tys90

I am flying TPE-LAX on BR this fall using ANA points. I'm not sure what happened but ANA claims my flight TPE-LAX was cancelled (wasn't cancelled) and BR put me on a flight for the next day. However, I have two domestic legs once I reach the US on United that need to be changed as well now. ANA is saying they do not see any award space for the domestic legs - which is true for the exact routing I previously had. There are plenty of other routes with award space, although none are very convenient. This sort of makes sense because their rules do not allow routing changes on awards but that is for voluntary changes.

What are my options here? How flexible can ANA be with awards if you get involuntarily moved like this? I would prefer to keep my original routing as it saves a lot of time. Can they ask UA to open space?

If not, can ANA put me on their metal through Tokyo if there isn't any award space? I would trade a connection in Tokyo for a domestic connection on United, which is preferable to me.

Tokyoite

Hi there.
>How flexible can ANA be with awards if you get involuntarily moved like this?
If it were ANA's own flights, they might do more for you. In this case, since BR already provided an alternate flight (the one that you currently have)
ANA can only offer 3 choices.
1. Cancel for full refund
2. Accept the current change
3. Wait for any award space to open and then book it (you have to wait/monitor/call in for the request)

>I would prefer to keep my original routing as it saves a lot of time. Can they ask UA to open space?
Sorry but ANA doesn't have an obligation here since BR already provided an alternate flight (the one that you currently have)

>If not, can ANA put me on their metal through Tokyo if there isn't any award space?
>I would trade a connection in Tokyo for a domestic connection on United, which is preferable to me.
Again, only if space is available. They wont force it their own space open just because you don't like the BR alternate flight
If you had NO alternate flight, then they might consider it.

Best cause of action is to watch for space like a hawk, using the usual tools such as Expert flyer.
Or, do daily searches on the United App on your phone like a ritual, and hope for something (like I do for a route I am currently keeping track of )

tys90

Props to ANA, they cleared this up with very little involvement from me. I called in and they said they would look for alternatives and call me back. Well, 3 days later they called back and were able to change my TPE-LAX to TPE-SFO which in turn let them route me domestically on what is almost the same exact route just SFO-DEN instead of LAX-DEN. Very happy with their handling of the involuntary change.

craigthemif

I've got a similar issue - partner schedule changes causing guaranteed misconnect - but my first effort with ANA to fix this (even routing to different airports) has hit a brick wall as they won't even consider allowing me to change dates or route to fit partner award space.