I'm trying to make the simplest of changes (move a single segment by exactly one day, same flight number on the same route) and while I've gotten past the "call us" response from the Qantas team on twitter, I've now been advised that this will incur a 125 USD change fee.
The agent, upon my request, double checked this with the "the team" but came back with the same response.
Looking at the fare rules in expertflyer, I can see why they would want to say so, while the fare rules actually only specify the change fee for a no-show or changes to the ticketed points.
For changes, which don't do either, it just specifies that changes are permitted.
AFTER DEPARTURE CHARGE USD 125.00 FOR NO-SHOW/REISSUE. WAIVED FOR ILLNESS OR DEATH OF PASSENGER OR FAMILY MEMBER. NOTE - TEXT BELOW NOT VALIDATED FOR AUTOPRICING. LOCAL SERVICE FEES MAY APPLY ON REROUTING/REISSUE ------------------------------------------------- AFTER DEPARTURE A. CHANGES TO TICKETED POINTS PERMITTED AT A CHARGE OF USD125.00 PER TRANSACTION. B. NO SHOW REQUIRES REBOOKING AT A CHARGE OF USD 125.00. C. IF THE REROUTING RESULTS IN A CHANGE TO THE TOTAL TICKETED MILES THE TICKET SHALL BE RECALCULATED. TICKET MAY BE REISSUED TO ANY APPLICABLE EXPLORER FARE VALIDATING ALL RULES OF THE NEW FARE EXCEPT FOR RESTRICTIONS ON RETROACTIVE USE. REROUTING FEE APPLIES WHEN THE RESULTING FARE IS LESS THAN OR EQUAL TO THE ORIGINAL FARE. NO REFUND APPLIES. SEE UPGRADING PROVISIONS WHEN RECALCULATION RESULTS IN A NEW FARE BASIS AT A HIGHER VALUE. AFTER DEPARTURE CHANGES PERMITTED FOR REVALIDATION. NOTE - TEXT BELOW NOT VALIDATED FOR AUTOPRICING. LOCAL SERVICE FEES MAY APPLY ON REBOOKING ------------------------------------------------- AFTER DEPARTURE CHANGES ARE PERMITTED PROVIDED TICKETED POINTS REMAIN THE SAME.
However the wiki and previous posts in this thread suggest that simple date changes should be free of charge.
Any advise on how to achieve date changes with Qantas without a change fee?