Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave

At this stage you need to work with your travel agency, accepting this is a complex area. Since I imagine HKT-SIN is not on a BA codeshare then I can't see an easy route to get EC261 cover as firm coverage, but it's reasonable to expect a similar level of protection here in terms of your contract with OTB and the airlines. If it's on a 125 BA issued ticket, the BA will need to make the trip whole. If it's a Qatar issued ticket, well, same principle, it's just they aren't great in this situation. At least you have a travel agent working the case for you. I would never accept a refund on this before travel, since the worst scenario appears to be to continue with the defective booking but then to claim any extra costs afterwards. The problem with that is that presumably your ticket needs validation and that can't happen with the defective sector. Now I realise I'm not giving you a clear pathway here, other than to keep working with your travel agency to get the best outcome, and to resist any refunds at this stage. I don't know if travel insurance also provides any help here.