1/4 Classic Rewards Flight Cancelled - what to do?

[catinjapan]

I booked business class flights in March using points, travelling from the UK to a visit home to Melbourne alone with my 11mo baby. The inbound flights' schedules have since changed several times, now requiring an 18h layover in Dubai. Not great, but not the end of the world.

I've now recently received an email from Qantas advising that the first leg of my journey LHR > HK has been cancelled.

There are no Classic Reward Flight business class flight alternatives, so I'm at a loss as to what to do. I haven't been home in 3 years, been through a traumatic separation and was looking forward to spending time with family and friends and for them to meet my young son. I booked BC for the comfort of travelling for so many hours with a young baby on my own to make the journey more manageable.

What are my options other than those I've identified below?
Option 1) Book a paid flight LHR > HK but risk the second leg getting cancelled and being stuck in HK.
Option 2) Book the only economy CRF option of LHR > HK via Helsinki but taking 16.5hrs travel time and arriving 23hrs before the HK > MEL flight departs.
Option 3) Cancel the whole trip and hope more CRFs are released in the next few months.

For reference:
Outbound:
Flight 1) LHR > HK with BA dep. 29/11/22
Flight 2) HK > MEL with Qantas dep. 30/11/22 19:20 arr. 07:30
Inbound:
Flight 3) MEL > DUB with Emirates dep. 19/1/23 06:30 arr. 13:30
Flight 4) DUB > LGW with Emirates dep. 20/1/23 07:40 arr. 11:40

Has anyone been in a similar position? What did you do?

 

[Nitro6333]

Personally I’d be contacting Qantas and get a request sent through to the one world help desk for a seat to be made available on Ba 15 Lhr-Syd on or as close to your original departure date as possible. Ba canceled the flight they need to provide an alternative.

 

[catinjapan]

Personally I’d be contacting Qantas and get a request sent through to the one world help desk for a seat to be made available on Ba 15 Lhr-Syd on or as close to your original departure date as possible. Ba canceled the flight they need to provide an alternative.

I thought Qantas Customer Service has been incorrectly cancelling reward flights recently whenever they receive calls about them? Not sure I want to risk them cancelling my trip completely.

 

[aikman]

Your HKG-MEL flight is also no longer operating but Qantas just hasn't formally cancelled it yet.

I would forget about Hong Kong and look for alternative flights LHR-MEL. If you really can't find any then I would call and see what they can do for you. As suggested above you can ask that they release seats on a different flight but I think you'd have to be very lucky for this to happen. Most likely, they will just offer you a refund.

Yes, it's possible the phone agent might accidentally cancel your Emirates flights but I don't see you having a choice. You are going to have to call them to either replace or remove your Hong Kong flights.

 

[Nitro6333]

I thought Qantas Customer Service has been incorrectly cancelling reward flights recently whenever they receive calls about them? Not sure I want to risk them cancelling my trip completely.

You will have to call them eventually. I had a similar experience a few weeks ago with several CX flights on an OWA. After speaking to them we were able to request seats be made available on another date and in one instance we requested the departure point be changed from BNE to SYD all the requests were accepted and took about a week for the changes to go through.

 

[Mwenenzi]

<snip>
For reference:
Outbound:
Flight 1) LHR > HK with BA dep. 29/11/22
Flight 2) HK > MEL with Qantas dep. 30/11/22 19:20 arr. 07:30
Inbound:
Flight 3) MEL > DUB with Emirates dep. 19/1/23 06:30 arr. 13:30
Flight 4) DUB > LGW with Emirates dep. 20/1/23 07:40 arr. 11:40

To me always better to book awards as one ways and not a return.
If you have booked as return would *first* try to split the PNR into 2: outbound and inbound
Then, and only them, try to fix the LHR-MEL.

Look online for other award options LGW/LHR/STN/?? - ADL/MEL/SYD/BNE on QF, QR(DOH), EK(DXB), MH(KUL) using QF ff points as a suggestion to QF. QF ffp should help you, but do not expect much
Any flight via HKG is a political risk now days. To be avoided IMHO.
Many many people looking for awards Dec - Jan. Even late Nov.

Could try email [email protected] to get in writing.
Then phone. The QF phone service for an award change is a risk. Several threads on awards being comprised due to incompetence by QF phone agents. (Hence split inbound - outboud)

Good luck (you will need it)