Changing date of first sector in a 2x flight Reward itinerary?

[TahoeSkier]

Hi all
Later this year I have a 2x sector Reward itinerary (Domestic then International) on the same day, both on QF metal.

I'd like to bring the Domestic leg forward one day, as I think I'll need an additional work day between the flights, and it would actually be nice to have a 24hr 'buffer' between sectors in case the dom leg is cancelled or delayed.

Is this easy to achieve in the current climate? I am mildly terrified about going via the call centre, given some of the recent experiences!

Any advice much appreciated.

 

[offshore171]

Hi all
Later this year I have a 2x sector Reward itinerary (Domestic then International) on the same day, both on QF metal.

How long is the layover currently?

 

[TahoeSkier]

How long is the layover currently?

A few hours. Tight.

 

[JohnK]

Are you able to cancel and rebook?

I would not risk any same day connections in Australia at the moment.

 

[TahoeSkier]

Are you able to cancel and rebook?

I would not risk any same day connections in Australia at the moment.

Is it possible to move the first (dom) sector? That would be ideal.

 

[offshore171]

Can you share more details about the itinerary?

 

[TahoeSkier]

Can you share more details about the itinerary?

Reward booking, domestic economy connecting to international business - so simply cancelling the lot and rebooking on separate dates is not really an option.

Moving the domestic economy sector forward a day would be ideal - if possible?

 

[aikman]

Should be OK. You'll need to pay more points (if the transit is >24hrs) and there is a risk an incompetent agent might lose your international award seat in which case you'll need to invest time and effort begging for it back.

 

[DAC1]

Reward booking, domestic economy connecting to international business - so simply cancelling the lot and rebooking on separate dates is not really an option.

Moving the domestic economy sector forward a day would be ideal - if possible?

It should be achievable in theory. But as you will see with the experiences that many other people have had in different threads here, it is fraught with danger if you get an agent that does not know what needs to be done.

 

[TahoeSkier]

Should be OK. You'll need to pay more points because it becomes a multi-city booking and there is a risk an incompetent agent might lose your international award seat in which case you'll need to invest time and effort begging for it back.

Yes - that's what terrifies me!

I assume there's no way to DIY this on the website?

 

[aikman]

Yes - that's what terrifies me!

I assume there's no way to DIY this on the website?

Nope. The only DIY option on the website is to cancel the whole booking. All other changes require a phone agent to manually process.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

If you go to your MMB, you can see what the options are.
But as above has mentioned, and your wait times could be astronomical, and you might also loose the whole booking, ...
Ideally, I would not play around, (so to speak), with it.
Not so bad if you are guaranteed an Aust based QF call centre employee, and not those external "contractors".
Best option would be to just take the flight, if they (QF) cancels or defers dom flight, meaning you loose the int sector, that is their fault.
But if you call, and try something like moving dates, they might error the whole booking, making it worst.
Aust English is not the same as South African or Philipino English.

 

[JohnK]

Reward booking, domestic economy connecting to international business - so simply cancelling the lot and rebooking on separate dates is not really an option.

Moving the domestic economy sector forward a day would be ideal - if possible?

Have you tried doing a new dummy reward booking? If there's availability it should be possible to get it changed.

Personally I'd try to rebook myself and take advantage of free cancellations until September?

 

[TahoeSkier]

Have you tried doing a new dummy reward booking? If there's availability it should be possible to get it changed.

Yes - Reward seats are available for the dom leg, but if this needs to be managed via call centre, I am inclined to not try.

 

[offshore171]

Yes - Reward seats are available for the dom leg, but if this needs to be managed via call centre, I am inclined to not try.

What's the international sector? And what are the consequences (to your plans) of a misconnect? Are there multiple flights per day servicing the sector, or for example, only 4 per week? Are there partner airlines that cover the same sector? Is the domestic layover more than 3 hours?

You'll get better advice from the members here if you can tell us some basic details about the flights. It feels like a hypothetical exercise at the moment.

 

[JohnK]

Yes - Reward seats are available for the dom leg, but if this needs to be managed via call centre, I am inclined to not try.

If you can book both legs online yourself right now then make a new booking and then cancel old booking.

If only availability is for domestic leg but not international leg then you need to be aware that you may end up losing that flight if the wrong call centre staff handle your changes.

 

[Matt_01]

@TahoeSkier if you would like to go down this path you are going to have to call QF, they only need to domestic flight and this should not be difficult. As you are on QF metal they should mess with the International seat. If you are thinking about flying the day before have you considered separating into 2 bookings, you will use a few more points and all you need to ask QF is remove your existing domestic flight and leave the international flight as is.

 

[TahoeSkier]

I'd gladly rebook the dom sector myself as a separate booking. Is it possible to call QF and have them simply cancel the dom leg of my itinerary?

Happy to do this, but very nervous about them making an error and messing up the international leg!

 

[Matt_01]

Is it possible to call QF and have them simply cancel the dom leg of my itinerary?

Yes

 

[mitti]

This should be fine. Have an upcoming international award flight with multiple airlines in one booking and have been able to change dates for flights without too much trouble, although trying to get the SA call centre to change a KLM award flight was... interesting. Just be clear about changing the date only for the particular flight you are talking about, that the rest of the itinerary should remain as is.