Originally Posted by
r0gerthat
Let's say you have a (hypothetical) routing to fly DUS-AMS-YVR-HNL through AFKL & partners on 1/10/2022 (not a last minute change). Due to some schedule changes, this route is no longer viable on this day (e.g. the AMS layover is too short now). What is the customer services' rep freedom to help you out within the involuntary reroute policies if you mention you cannot make the DUS-AMS but prefer to depart from BCN instead (again, examples, not actual routes)? This could be because a variety of reasons / changing plans
Would it be reasonable for the airline to ask/expect you to depart from BCN (1,167km away) rather than from DUS because of their cancellation?
Absolutely not. There are any number of closer airports in Germany which you could more easily depart from, rather than having to schlep all the way to Barcelona; in fact, it would even make more sense for you to start from AMS (or from CDG if the original ticket had routed via CDG; both are much closer to and easier to reach from Dusseldorf than getting to Barcelona would be). So, changing the origin from Düsseldorf to Barcelona for free, as a result of a flight cancellation, is a non-starter of an idea.
The airline should work with you to fix the ticket you have; they won't be so cooperative in allowing you to change it to a completely different ticket outside the fare rules of the ticket you hold.
Again,
a cancellation by the airline does not give you carte blanche to then make material changes of your own to the ticket. The key in your statement above is that you now "
prefer to depart from BCN instead" and "
changing plans". A ticket departing from Spain is clearly a very, very different product than a ticket departing from Germany; and this "desire" arises from your change of plans; it's not a concession to assist in "repairing" the original itinerary. The airline is under no obligation to allow you to change your DUS-wherever ticket to a BCN-wherever ticket other than according to the fare rules (which will almost always include a fare difference, if not also a change fee).
(The only "grey area" here is that you don't seem to want to declare openly that you now wish to change the ticket, rather than travel on the original itinerary. If in your hypothetical scenario where your plans have changed along with a flight cancellation months in advance, you should investigate whether the price of buying a new ticket for your new route is cheaper than what you already paid - in which case you should use the cancellation to request a full refund, and then just book a new ticket yourself according to your new plans).