Finally got our OWA re-eTicketed today after a month of dramas precipitated by QR rescheduling a September DOH - KUL flight on our way back from Europe, and no alternate award availability.
Like many others I've lost count of the number of calls I've had to make trying to get a connecting flight back to MEL.
The problems were compounded by the fact we officially started our OWA at the start of April with a trip to SYD, even though we're back in MEL now on a revenue fare. That meant that we weren't supposed to be able to change any routes under the OWA rules - only date or flight time.
Explaining my predicament this morning to about the 20th agent I have spoken to, I finally got a sympathetic Fijian ear and she got it done.
I knew there was availability for all the flight changes I wanted and, after I walked her through all the details she was able to locate them too.
My proposal involved changing 2 of the routes of our last 5 flights, substituting a BRU stopover with a FRA transit and a KUL stopover plus multiple rejigging of dates, times and flight numbers - things which supposedly aren't within the rules once the first flight has been flown. The "cherry" was that we still walked away with some QSuites.
So, the "take home message" is that when things go wrong, don't dismiss the possibility of multiple changes like I was able to make even if they bend the rules. Lack of availability is the worst enemy that seems to create a "sorry I can't help you" give-up mentality among agents, so if you can find availability it's worth running it past them when you seem to be out of options.