Hi mikeyb1 ,

Yes, demand for reward availability on the BA London to Tokyo route is high.

I haven’t personally done it, but calling at midnight (or a few minutes before to account for security screening) as the outbound seats are released seems to be a good strategy. You can then call to add the inbound later when the seats are released.

I have an upcoming reward seat x2 booking on this route, and personally I used a seat availability notification tool to book it. I used Seat Spy, but there are others available. I had to be a bit flexible but I was able to grab seats when BA released new inventory / another passenger cancelled.

if you’re using the Barclays upgrade voucher, there needs to be availability in cabin you want to book. Basically you’re paying half the normal avios for that cabin with the voucher.

Good luck, I have my trip coming up in Feb!