All up the experience is not as traumatic as I have expected
Really glad to hear that. I thought I had developed some pretty good resistance after maybe 100-something calls this past year or so, but the combination of a less-than-stellar TG F flight on Tuesday and the continuing LifeMiles shenanigans (*), with ten calls at various times of day yielding no tangible progress, have led me to cancel two SYD-BKK-TYO bookings and just burn my remaining LifeMiles.
(*) and probably more than anything, post-long-trip fatigue