Hi all,

Hopefully this is posted in the right place, since it pertains to Avios bookings (even though I'm ideally not looking at flying BA).

I'm currently planning my honeymoon, and was intending on spending ~400k Avios on 2 tickets in J to Tokyo, flying in late March/early April 2026. Specifically, I was hoping to fly on the new JAL A350. However, I recently learned that JAL release seats to their members at T-360 days (whereas Avios bookings are T-355). Given it'll be Sakura season in Japan, I suspect it'll be a very popular time to fly there, and I'm concerned that all the reward seats will be snaffled up by JAL members, and that no seats will be released for booking through the BA portal.

I therefore have a few questions:

• Are JAL seats also released for Avios bookings at midnight GMT?
• Is it likely that there'll be no Avios seats left on the JAL bookings for late March/early April?
• Is there an (easy) way of determining in advance if any JAL seats will be released?
• Am I better off just booking BA (or QR or AY) instead?

Very new to booking Avios reward flights, so it's possible I've got a bunch of the above wrong, but interested in any insights.