DeltaFlyingProf

I have a paid ticket arriving into LHR and a separate award ticket in Y to BRU. I've booked the outbound award with 4h of connection time to avoid any problem in case of delays on the inbound flight. If this were AA, I could book the earlier flight without much fear as they still honor misconnect protection on separate tickets. How about BA? Most Y fares allow a same day change, but how about on awards?
and if I were to book the earlier flight and my inbound were delayed, would I be protected and put in the later flight?

Airprox

If you are delayed so that you miss conformance for the award ticket to BRU, it will be lost and you will need to buy a new ticket to replace it. No same day changes on awards (no changes within 24 hours of departure), and no protection on separate tickets.

corporate-wage-slave

Airprox correctly gives the formal position. Informally, if you are pleasant to the agents (at the airport) concerned, and the reason for a long delay was out of your hands, then it's possible they would rebook you for a £60 fee or even gratis. Your GGL card would normally help a bit here. You just can't count on it. Personally I would be OK to leave it at a 4 hour connection, if you booked (e.g.) a 90 minute "connection" from T3 to T5 then frankly you're asking for a decline to assist. I would be surprised if adding BRU to your initial booking would hugely bump up the cost, normally it has the opposite effect but essentially if you want protection you need to book accordingly.

Often1

AA is the only major carrier which offers rebooking on no shows for its own tickets as well as AA-OW and OW-AA. Here, even SDC, if available, would not help as, more than likely, OP's onward ticket would already have been cancelled. SDC will not fix a missed flight.

DeltaFlyingProf

That's what I feared. Guess I'll have to enjoy the CCR for a longer duration.

DeltaFlyingProf

I would be in a situation where I would be able to call in before boarding my incoming flight to make the change in case of major delay.

corporate-wage-slave

I guess you are fairly new to this area, calling in almost certainly wouldn't help (I am not sure whether the GGL team would be different however). It's the airport agents that can do things here. Revenue tickets would perhaps be different, particularly if SDC (Plus ticket) rather than Avios, so you could call in, in that circumstance.

DeltaFlyingProf

I think you missed the fact that my comment was related to the hypothetical posited by Often1 that the rules would be different and that a SDC would be allowed on an award, then I wouldn't see why my booking would have been canceled by the time I get to LHR, as I could have (or have someone do it for me) before the original LHR-BRU. I hope this is clearer.

corporate-wage-slave

Yes it is, but from a contact centre point of view an award ticket is not touchable when within 24 hours of departure unless the flight is cancelled, hence ringing up is unlikely to help (though they could put a note on the PNR). An airport agent can reinstate a no-show on a redemption ticket to a later flight, though that's not to be expected and it's not going to happen on a tight connection. So in that context you don't have much choice but to no-show and then plead your circumstances. For a revenue ticket, on the other hand, SDC on Plus or Flex tickets is also supposed to be done before no-show, but a Contact Centre there can fully do the necessary, unlike with redemptions. Hypothetically, therefore, it's probably best not to use Avios in this context but a Plus ticket, and in some cases the cheapest option would be to amend the original longhaul to include BRU - there may be an amendment fee, admittedly a hefty one in some situations, but typically fares to BRU are lower than LON.

aardvarkdave

My wife sometimes has the difficult combination of being time-poor and having an absolute requirement to reach her destination. Our solution, given the low cost of RFS, is to book two flights and throw one away (or, since we generally know her schedule 6-9 months ahead, book a very cheap cash ticket if available). This is more reliable than a flexible fare as it overcomes the problem of a sold-out flight.