I have an upcoming booking with itinerary BRU-AUH-JNB for the outbound and JNB-AUH-MXP/LIN-BRU for the inbound. (It was cheaper to get the Milan transfer than a direct BRU flight.)

The AUH-MXP has been moved by 45 minutes and I have been notified by email. I inquired via the 24/7 chat and the agent said that I could change the flight free of charge as one leg has been changed by over 30 minutes. He said I had 60 days to do the change or get a full refund. (I saved the chat.)

I wanted to double-check my travel plans, and eventually decided that changing to a direct AUH-BRU would be better. A few days later I called by phone (chat was too busy) to do this change, but was told that as there are no misconnections, I cannot change free of charge.

Does anyone know what the actual policy is? It is not a big deal in the grand scheme of things—it’s just rather unclear. Thank you.

Just to update, in case this is useful to someone: I used the chat again today, and was rebooked on the AUH-BRU flight free of charge. I wonder if the person on the phone was misinformed or otherwise...