Originally Posted by
iwillflytheworld
When I called QF to make a date change to a direct flight without connections I was also quoted $125 for the change. I insisted that the fare rules say no change fee but the agent wouldn't budge, despite going over the fare rules together (she said "changes allowed" does not mean "changes allowed for free" lol). I then contacted QF through twitter and they were willing to make the change for free (there was no availability for my desired date so I didn't in the end).
To make changes you have to keep trying (possibly many times) and/or contact QF through social media. It's definitely annoying. But the rules are clear that aflight changes with same ticketed points are free (I agree that there's a bit of ambiguity on whether changing connection to stopover or vice-versa is a change to ticketed points; at the very least, taxes can change substantially in this case).
I do believe that changing from a connection to stopover is supposed to trigger the $125 fee, but I just had CX do one for free yesterday, as well as a routing change (on flight later in the itinerary) at the same time. So you never know, but I'd be prepared to pay the $125 fee if you change connection to stopover and v.v.
I did have QF try to charge me last year on a date change, but similarly I just reminded them that those are free and they did it.