Same here, 16th August. I haven't called yet and really want a direct flight as will be travelling with a baby.
My booking has had so many issues already with hours on hold on the phone that I might take a full refund and book a direct on United...will Qantas give a full refund?
Could you ask for a refund at this point? Absolutely since QF made several material changes to your itinerary! But I would argue against it since finding J award availability with such short notice is unlikely. Instead, given this award flight was booked on QF metal, they need to take responsibility for this change. At a minimum I would expect them to take care of the connecting flight down to LAX be it on AA, AS or some other airline in J to catch the QF flight. Flights from SFO to LAX on OneWorld in J are a dime a dozen, given this is one of the more busy regional air routes in the world. They might need to call the OneWorld desk to make it happen but push for it. Remind them that you are booked on Qantas for San Francisco to Sydney not LA to Sydney. QF needs to take care of this since you booking a new ticket on your own puts your trip in serious risk should there be a misconnection.
UPDATE
Contacted Qantas at 0330hrs today while at work. After a little discussion, they added a flight from LAX-SFO with Alaska at no extra charge. We land in LAX at 0700hrs, flight with Alaska is 1000hrs. Should give us enough time. I try to avoid LAX at almost any cost, but beggars can't be choosers.
Still a little annoyed that they pulled the direct flight with only 12 weeks to go. Most people like us would have already booked their hotels etc.
Good to hear QF did the right thing here after some prodding. IMHO LAX is a far better airport than SFO, and in my books amongst the top airports in the world, perhaps even better than the dump that is Changi. There are a number of great lounges at LAX which hopefully you are able to take advantage of prior to your flight such as QF, AA and OneWorld.
As for schedule changes, it happens. I've got an award booking with Air Canada from Sydney to Toronto that has been rebooked over a dozen times now. No doubt there will be some growing pains for the airlines as they emerge from the pandemic.
-RooFlyer88
