Well, the award availability seems to be gone now, so Q2 and Q3 in my original post no longer matter.
Originally Posted by
SK AAR
If RJ has proposed a reasonable flight alternative, i.e. same day, despite inconvenient to you and you prefer another airline, RJ has a right to rebook you like this.
Fair enough!
Does it change things if their new routing requires me to obtain a visa, which I'm not likely to be able to get in time now even if I try? Is that still "re-routing under comparable transport conditions"? I've been unable to find any court or enforcement body decisions on this point. EC261 itself does say "The trouble and inconvenience to passengers caused by cancellation of flights should also be reduced." and I would say
not actually being able to board the flight would be a pretty big inconvenience, but it's obviously wide open to interpretation. RJ's attitude so far has been "well, that's your problem - take the refund then!"