Thanks for the good vibes
@juddles. Everyone here has been most helpful. I only found this site after I'd pored over as many ACCC & Consumer Affairs statements as I could & was fruitlessly trying to find precedent cases and rulings before I could figure my way forward. I really have so, so many better things to be doing with my time.
I've also been hesitant to complain as I had thought the QFF response would be 'Shutup & go away peasant. You're already getting a free Business Class trip to Europe. Suck it up.' And that's certainly how it's been feeling. I do understand I'm being a 1st-world, privileged whinger too and know Business Class is going to be great. I still feel like I've paid for something and was just being dismissed by a giant corporation who appeared to be getting away with charging me for something they weren't giving me, even if it was only loyalty points & an unknown amount from my carrier fee. It's very, very low on the social justice totem pole, but it still is the kind of thing that sticks in my craw. Given that it appears they can just change my flights without my consent or any penalty, I'm still a bit scared that they'll cancel or shift something else around without any compensation. That's actually been causing me a bit of stress as I'm not convinced they won't try & pull something else like that. How can you book a holiday if you're not sure your flights will be honoured? I think that's probably my Aspy paranoia though. Change the rules on me and I'm utterly lost.
I'm really looking forward to this being sorted so I can stop worrying and focus on the actual holiday. Hoping to see the Northern Lights in Norway as part of it so it should be brilliant if everything aligns.
And next up I have to keep chasing another airline who accepted my bid for two empty seats next to me on a long haul back from JFK the week before last, but didn't honour it and are not yet willing to refund my bid. Given this thread, I'll switch from email to phone calls on that one too. Definitely not a fan of airlines at the moment though.