So I've booked it! It's certainly a roundabout way but will be the last time in a while I have a chance to make the trip, plus I get to try F in the QF A380.

I'm going to monitor for better routes to LHR on that date as my understanding is I can change an award flight as long as the date, departure city and arrival city stay the same, correct?

One other question. On the long trek home, I booked QF107 all the way from SYD through to JFK because QF107 didn't show as an option when I just searched for available awards from SYD to LAX. I have seen where there is economy award availability on 107 just for the SYD to LAX segment, so I assume it's not necessarily a hard and fast rule that you have to continue on 107 to JFK, but perhaps they specify based on loads or something? What I'm getting at is there is award seating available on AA to get me from LAX to LIT, but it seems like I'm stuck going all the way to JFK on Qantas. I'm concerned about calling AA and having them try to change the routing and have it cancel my SYD-LAX segment on QF107, which is extremely hard to come by and I fear I would lose it.