Originally Posted by
DeathSlam
As mentioned above it's worth trying to get reward availability from other European cities to Japan especially if your starting point in the UK is not London.
You will need a 'positioning flight' to get there, but that is often a good excuse to see another city. And the availability of Avios rewards is usually much better than starting in the UK. This applies to JAL as much as to Qatar.
This was a great idea. I took a look on the Qatar Avios booking portal at other European cities and managed to secure two business class seats on Finnair HEL-NRT in late March next year for 154500 Avios + €37.20, which seems exceptionally good value to me. Thanks!