I have a JFK-LHR-HKG award trip coming up. JFK to LHR is on BA in business and LHR to HKG is CX in F. Booked together as a single booking.

I'm thinking about taking an earlier BA flight. If there is CX award space showing for the BA flight I want, can they change just this part? Obviously, the CX space in F to HKG is pretty hopeless. Not least because I'm taking on of the seats. So I'm hoping they'll change one leg without requiring the space on both legs.

At one point, I had considered taking a flight a few days earlier and talked to the contact center who said yes, I could drop the BA segment and get refunded the points for that part. So I could book a separate flight on BA. But that would be more points because it's two different flights. So my strong preference would be change rather than cancel and rebook.

Does anyone have any experience with? I know I need to call the contact center. Anything I need to watch out for? Hold times are pretty long for the contact center so hoping someone here has done it.

Reissue US$50Cancellation and reissue US$120.
It shouldn’t be a big problem (BA-CX to BA-BA). Definitely contact centre even if the wait

Great. Thanks for the info. I'll give them a ring when I decide what I want to do and report back.

Are you sure?

I haven't done this exact reissue, but I constructed multiple BA-BA and BA-XX connections in my oneworld multi-carrier awards https://www.reddit.com/r/awardtravel/s/fc5qELkkED . Neither BA-BA nor BA-XX connections were particularly hard to construct or break.

I had no trouble changing the BA flight on a combired BA-Cathay award ticket last year

Just talked to the contact center and they said would not be a problem. Just have to find award space with AM on that first BA segment.

My main concern was whether they would require award space all the way through and he confirmed that would not be necessary.

Now just have to wait for BA to release the space close to my departure date. Will report back when/ if that happens for me.

Changing the BA sector to an earlier one on a BA-CX connection is not a problem, as long as the connection remains within 24 hours. I don't think changing a BA-CX connection to BA-BA is a change (if these are the only sectors on the ticket), as the combination of airlines change (CX is dropped), but a cancellation. Also, it would require the original BA sector to be cancelled and rebooked to satisfy Married Segment Control (MSC) requirement.

You’re right on both counts

I completely forgot what I wrote on Reddit about cancellation and reissues this week https://www.reddit.com/r/CathayPacific/s/nJxc3TU58E

i corrected my post #2

Although just IMO - MSC doesn't seem to be such a big thing with BA. I was able to change a HKG-LHR-AGP-LHR-HKG to HKG-LHR-GIB//AGP-LHR-HKG in Nov 2023 https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/35804715-post2.html and https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/35804715-post2.html (oh. re-reading my old post there was some pushback. But ultimately it can be done).