Cancellation and downgrade – tier points

[IsB]

Hi all,

I would like to sense check my rights in the following situation, please. Any guidance welcome!

I booked a first class sale fare from LHR to Melbourne, Australia in early February for travel on 3 Dec 2021 – BA to HKG then Cathay codeshare from HKG to MEL. Given the aircraft Cathay flies, there is no first cabin on their leg, so I was expecting first on BA to and from HKG, and Business from HKG to MEL and back. I hold Gold Status and had hoped that this trip would get me 730+ points and well on my way to retaining gold again this year, since my usual work flights are non-existant right now.

Various changes were made to my flight in the intervening months, ultimately changing from a 9pm take off time to a 625pm take off. On 30 Nov 2021, my flight was cancelled. I eventually managed to get through to the BA gold line, having also tried chat (bot, sometimes person) and twitter. I was rebooked on Qatar, but departing 9 hours earlier than the most recent BA flight I had been booked on. I was also downgraded to Business the whole way as Qatar doesn’t have a first cabin on that flight.

WHen I asked about compensation for the downgrade I was told none, and when I asked about tier points and avios I was told I would earn them for the originally booked ticket (I have this in writing on chat). However, when the ticket was reissued I saw that the tier points I’ll earn are for the cabin I fly, which they reconfirmed when I asked again.

As I understand it, I am due the following:
– Compensation for the cancellation, as my take off time was more than 2 hours before I had booked (and I had to take a day off work)
– Compensation for the downgrade – to the tune of 75% of the fare (after taxes are taken out) – I’m not sure how to calculate this given it was a different route?

Am I owed the tier points for the flight I booked given they offered me no alternative first class seats to get to Australia? You may know how hard it has been to get back, so I took what I could get, but it’s not my choice to be business only and miss out on the avios and tier points I was expecting, particularly since I have paid handsomely for the flight already.

How do they get away with blatantly lying about compensation due when they know it remains the law to compensate for at least the downgrade and cancellation?

Many thanks in advance for your help.