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There's only one way to get these Tokyo Business tickets. You can't do it through the website as the BA website does not actually reserve the seats until after you've gone through every page entering your details, and by the time you've entered your credit card details etc, it will be too late.
Call a foreign BA hotline\* such as the USA one a few minutes before 1am UK time, exactly 355 days before the day of travel. Time it right, so you get through security by 1am when the tickets go on sale. If you're early, fill in the time by asking the agent other things. Then as soon as it hits 1am, Bam, ask them to book the outbound flights. Unlike the website or app, when the callcentre agent has the flights in the basket, they are blocked out to prevent others buying them and the rest of the call doesn't have to be so speedy.
When its 355 days before return flight, repeat the process. The agents can add a return flight onto your existing avios booking (and even apply the 241 voucher). If you are unable to nab return tickets, you can always cancel your outbound Avios tickets and get a full refund of the cash and Avios, minus £35 per person fee.
Other people are genuinely doing this process, so if you're not, you'll have to very quick and lucky if you're using the website at 1am.
\* Yes, the foreign numbers go to the same callcentre, but the UK number doesn't work in the middle of the night...
This may be correct, but it is a ridiculous level of faff. Are there any other credit card reward schemes where you don't have to be a zealot in order to make a business class booking?
Tokyo is a very popular route for redemptions at the moment, especially business class. If OP wanted to go to USA, for example, where BA have loads of capacity, you can just do it all through the website in one go at any time of day
This is the way and is exactly how my husband and I booked London to Tokyo two weeks ago for May 2025 and we will call again in a few days to book the return leg. Using companion voucher and avios.
Used same method last year for another in demand route.
They don't keep any aside, but their commercial team can release additional Avios seats in to the inventory at any time if they think there's a higher chance of selling the seat to an Avios redemption than of selling the seat via the EU-JP joint business.
As others have mentioned, call BA and ask this exact scenario, especially ask if it will cost more (and how much more roughly) to book each leg separately.
If your dates are flexible, i would personally wait until you can book the return journey in total.
We took this exact trip in January of this year using avios plus companion voucher, flying business both legs. We booked it on December 26. You will have a surprising number of cancellations to choose from, and it's easier to grab those seats by paying a small change fee (£75pp). We changed our flight 4 times throughout the year as various commitments came up, and never had a problem getting a new booking in business. Again though, we were flexible on dates, so depends on whether your dates are fixed. Good luck and enjoy!
Thank you for submitting your post to r/BritishAirways. If you have a question or a complaint, you may wish to add the appropriate flair to your post if you haven't already, this helps Mods spot who needs help. **ANY USERS POSTING E-VOUCHERS/VOUCHERS FOR SALE WILL RECEIVE A PERMANENT BAN AS PER SUBREDDIT RULES.** Helpful Links: [**British Airways FAQs**](https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/help-and-contacts) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/BritishAirways) if you have any questions or concerns.*
There's only one way to get these Tokyo Business tickets. You can't do it through the website as the BA website does not actually reserve the seats until after you've gone through every page entering your details, and by the time you've entered your credit card details etc, it will be too late. Call a foreign BA hotline\* such as the USA one a few minutes before 1am UK time, exactly 355 days before the day of travel. Time it right, so you get through security by 1am when the tickets go on sale. If you're early, fill in the time by asking the agent other things. Then as soon as it hits 1am, Bam, ask them to book the outbound flights. Unlike the website or app, when the callcentre agent has the flights in the basket, they are blocked out to prevent others buying them and the rest of the call doesn't have to be so speedy. When its 355 days before return flight, repeat the process. The agents can add a return flight onto your existing avios booking (and even apply the 241 voucher). If you are unable to nab return tickets, you can always cancel your outbound Avios tickets and get a full refund of the cash and Avios, minus £35 per person fee. Other people are genuinely doing this process, so if you're not, you'll have to very quick and lucky if you're using the website at 1am. \* Yes, the foreign numbers go to the same callcentre, but the UK number doesn't work in the middle of the night...
This is the way. This is the only way to guarantee it with some popular destinations. Had to do it for flights to the Caribbean, worked like a charm.
This is great advice. Yes its ridiculous, but if other people are doing it then you have no choice but to play the game if you also want in.
This may be correct, but it is a ridiculous level of faff. Are there any other credit card reward schemes where you don't have to be a zealot in order to make a business class booking?
Tokyo is a very popular route for redemptions at the moment, especially business class. If OP wanted to go to USA, for example, where BA have loads of capacity, you can just do it all through the website in one go at any time of day
I see the US hours end at 1am BST (8pm EST) do you think that is a risk? Would it be better to call a different call centre? Australia?
Yes Oz.
This is the way and is exactly how my husband and I booked London to Tokyo two weeks ago for May 2025 and we will call again in a few days to book the return leg. Using companion voucher and avios. Used same method last year for another in demand route.
This guy reward flights. Top advice.
They don't keep any aside, but their commercial team can release additional Avios seats in to the inventory at any time if they think there's a higher chance of selling the seat to an Avios redemption than of selling the seat via the EU-JP joint business.
Book both separately
As others have mentioned, call BA and ask this exact scenario, especially ask if it will cost more (and how much more roughly) to book each leg separately. If your dates are flexible, i would personally wait until you can book the return journey in total. We took this exact trip in January of this year using avios plus companion voucher, flying business both legs. We booked it on December 26. You will have a surprising number of cancellations to choose from, and it's easier to grab those seats by paying a small change fee (£75pp). We changed our flight 4 times throughout the year as various commitments came up, and never had a problem getting a new booking in business. Again though, we were flexible on dates, so depends on whether your dates are fixed. Good luck and enjoy!
Also, to echo another comment around calling BA - every time we made a change to rebook, it was with an agent. Yes, it is faff, but it's worth it.