Originally booked for SJC to MLE and back to SFO on 12/23 and 12/31. The sjc to lax leg on AS got cancelled so I got automatically rebooked onto a much earlier flight on AS. Since it was so much earlier, I called to see if there were any alternatives. According to QR, there were no other flights available between SJC/SFO and LAX at the originally booked fare bucket on AS or AA aside from the one that they automatically rebooked me on so I was forced to stick with the earlier flight despite this being an involuntary change unless I paid the fare difference. On the bright side, they allowed me to switch to the nonstop SFO flight on the return instead of transiting in LAX (nonstop SFO outbound not available on 12/23).
Just in case SFO doesn’t go through as we can never be sure with QR, will they have to rebook me to LAX and then a transit to SFO or SJC on AS or AA regardless of the available fare class if that happens? They said that they couldn’t book me on the alternative flights for SJC to LAX since the auto rebooking was the only one with that fare class so I’m worried they will consider the fare buckets again if they drop SFO and then reroute me back via LAX. Was this only the case this time because the auto rebooked flight already had that fare class available? Thanks.