Hello!

I (and another person) need to be in Melbourne on November 15th and 16th. I can take a max 2 weeks with the 2 week period dates being flexible e.g. can travel the 1st November to 17th, or the 10th to 24th or 13th to 27th etc.

I was hoping to use either my companion voucher (x1) or Barclaycard "upgrade" voucher (x2) but there appears to be no available reward/avios flights to either Sydney (unsurprisingly)/Singapore/Hong Kong/Japan (whilst I could fly to the America's using these vouchers, the flights prices from there to Australia don't make it worth it). I only have around 300k of avios and I would prefer to keep them for using on the voucher (they all expire mid 2025) so that rules out buying an non-ba avios flight (though there wasn't that many attractive options even if I did want to go down this route).

The questions that I have:

- Is it common for people just to book reward seats but then cancel and move the dates when they get more clarity over when they can actually travel? I'm not sure if I should wait and see if reward availability opens up or just proceed to paying for a flight with cash?

-If I need to pay in cash, business would be too much for my budget so the next best option is premium economy from LHR (I'm based in West London) with Cathay (about £2.3k pp). I can also do premium from say HEL etc. for about £1.8k. I'm wondering though, considering I've got gold status, so can choose a seat, is there much benefit with choosing a premium economy seat over that of a economy exit row seat? I don't typically eat/drink on the plane so for me the only consideration I'm concerned about is the seating.

- Am I correct in thinking that the BA Barclaycard voucher can only be used on flights leaving the UK. So I wouldn't be able to book a one-way from Singapore to LHR using the voucher (reason I ask is there is availability for reward flights from Singapore to UK after the 18th November).

Thanks!