Changing a Joker Booking Post-Expiration Date?
 

GGL line told me I could book a ticket by my Joker expiration date to lock it in for a year and then change it. Are there any restrictions (other than fare restrictions if used on a revenue ticket) or can I change date/time/routing/origin/destination at will and still "joker"?

For changes you mention the fare restirctions will be the issue on the revenue ticket, not the joker.

I assume you are using the joker to open up reward space in the cabin above for a UuA/GUF? Unless you are paying a large amount for fully flexible fares any change to the ticket is going to incure at least the change fee which is usually several hundred pounds, and also possible repricing of the ticket.

Let's say I book a J ticket with a joker/UuA/GUF to F LHR-ORD and later want to change it to F LHR-SFO. Obviously the ticket will reprice (more miles if an Avios ticket or change fee plus fare reprice if revenue) but am I otherwise allowed to make the change and still effectively use the Joker+UuA/GUF and pay a J fare (whether in miles or Avios)?

For an avios ticket you can only change to the same zone and I don't think ORD and SFO are in the same zone.

For a revenue ticket it depends on the terms of the ticket whether you are allowed a change in destination/date etc. to start with, and if so what the costs would be.

That's very helpful. So if I changed outside the zone, I would essentially be canceling the ticket and starting a new one - in which case the expired Joker would be lost?

You would be cancelling the ticket and you would lose the joker.

So just following up on this. Is there any reason I couldn't book say a fully refundable trip from LHR-DUB or something in Y, use the joker to UuA to J, and then change it to something else entirely later after the joker expired (e.g., a TATL WT+ ticket UuA'ed to J).

You would be cancelling the ticket so you would lose the Joker.

But if its a fully flexible ticket that allows all changes, how would that be canceling? Wouldn't it just be a reissue?

You are trying to game the system. You are changing the booking for an entirely different itinerary and service, that would be a cancellation.

I'm trying to game the system only because the GGL line told me (unsolicited) that I could "lock in" my Joker by making a booking before the expiration and then change it after. I'm trying to figure out what I need to do to lock it in while preserving maximum flexibility.

Now maybe BA has different rules than what I'm used to from the States (I've admittedly never made a complex ticket change on BA), but what here makes you say that its a ticket cancellation rather than a change? Long haul vs. short haul? Revenue Y vs. Revenue WT+? Different zone for UuA amount?

I have already told you up thread that changing zone is a cancellation & rebook rather than a change.

I thought that answer was with respect to pure Avios bookings. Would that also apply to a revenue+UuA?

Would doing a revenue+a GUF get around that restriction?

You can lock in the Joker by making a booking to a destination you intend to travel to in the future and then change the date of travel once you have firmed up your plans. What you are proposing is something very different to what the GGL line suggested.

So is that to say that ANY origin/destination change would be treated as a cancellation even if the underlying fare rules allowed for such changes?