Originally Posted by
Rem Coolhouse
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 manage to book this itinerary last year for flights this May. You are correct that on the BA portal flights only get released at T-355.
However, flights on the QR portal gets released at T-361.
JAL always releases two J seats to its own members as well as OneWorld partners at T-360 (I believe it's midnight of the departure city of the flight itself EDIT: midnight japan time!).
Although you may not be able to search and book for a JAL award flight online on the QR portal, the call centre staff at QR will be able to book these for you once they're released at T-360. What people normally recommend doing is to fill out the Partner Award Booking Form online the day before, and then call them up so they can look into that request. I know this is bit more of a hassle than directly booking online, but it works.
For reference, I paid 185,500 Avios + £913 on the outbound flight and 185,500 Avios+ 79900JPY (approx £400) on the return flight (for 2 people)
So it is amore expensive than what you have booked on AY, but personally I strongly prefer direct flights over transit flights especially if it's not on one through ticket.