Originally Posted by
tlawrence85
Yes - if you miss Tonga to Auckland, United will cancel the rest of your flights.
If you skip everything from Tonga to Melbourne, it's almost certain that the rest of the flights on the same itinerary will be cancelled by United.
I don't think this is actually true. The airlines don't talk to each other and IME if you miss a section of a reward ticket on one airline, the other airlines won't care.
I.e. if you miss your Tonga flight, all ANZ segments will be canceled, but Thai Airways will be none the wiser, as ANZ does not control the flights ticketed on them and has no authority to cancel them. Since UA is just the travel agent in this case and not the operating carrier, they won't be involved either.
HOWEVER, this is definitely a YMMV type situation.
What I would try to do first is call UA and explain the pickle you're in and see if they can do anything for you. Maybe a sympathetic supervisor could help you out.