Collective wisdom sought in this scenario...

Some months ago I've secured a BAH (flights and 5 days car hire) to AUH for travel in June 2024. So far only a deposit payment has been made. 4 flights are all QR operated. 2 of which carry BA codeshare flight numbers, the other 2 QR flight numbers.

In the past few days, I've received a flight cancellation notification from BA for one of the QR flights DOH-AUH. I've been automatically reprotected onto a much later flight involving a 8hr transit in DOH... far from ideal.

If this were a flight only booking I'm aware I'd be able to request an earlier connection under the BA standard rebook policy when a flight is cancelled. (Was more expensive to secure this one at time of booking) . Does this apply to BAH reservations also? 2.5hrs connection is definitely far more appealing to me than the 8hrs I'm being offered.

Secondly and separately, there's also a possibility I may need to amend the dates of this trip (ie push the whole trip back a week, while maintaining the same duration) in order to accommodate a work trip. The reason I've not done this yet is I'm still waiting for the work trip to confirm it's definitely going ahead which isn't likely to happen until early next year. Under the guise of 'flight cancellation' under BA rebook policy, am I best to hold off accepting or requesting any changes at this stage and using this cancellation to my advantage once I know about the work trip?

I'm aware BAH may well have a different policy to flight only but has anyone had any recent experience amending dates of a BAH (particularly both directions) without the fare component being repriced when a flight has been cancelled in one direction? Naturally not having to pay a change fee is always preferable if I don't have to pay it, especially when it's for my own holiday and out of my own pocket.