Originally Posted by
botham
Having booked the outbound trip I’m now worried that we won’t be able to book a return but I suppose we can always cancel the outbound if that were the case, or pay.
Two alternative alternative inbounds that might appeal if you don't find the seats you want:
i) From HKG: there is generally decent availability and you will save £164pp in YQ
if-and-only-if you can book the inbound in the "new" fashion: book it as a normal full-price (2x avios) one-way, then phone and have it vouchered. They'll return half the avios but won't join/reprice the booking so you'll benefit from zero ex-HKG YQ.
ii) From PEK: again better availability and it's in a lower avios band (potentially saving you enough avios for a Japan-PEK connection). You can transit-without-visa for a few days in PEK.
If you book HKG, it's in the same band so you could later switch it to Japan-LHR if availability appeared.