Schedule date change

Have also posted on Flyertalk but grateful for any wisdom:

I have booked flights for 4 of us open jaw LHR-YYZ and MIA-LHR in March 2026 with the plan to spend three nights in Toronto before heading down to Florida.

Today I received a schedule change email showing change from 14:00 to 18:00 departure for the outbound leg. Only on close inspection did I realise the date had also changed to a day later (ie 28hr change subtlety disguised as a simple schedule change).

Can anyone advise what rights I have to:
a) insist on travel on the original booked date, even if this means an indirect route and/or an alternative carrier
b) request the return date be moved to the following day, so the total time away is the same (so our holiday is not cut short)- fortunately we haven’t booked any non-cancellable accommodation yet
c) if neither a nor b possible could we ask VS to change outbound flight to MCO/TPA/MIA instead, and we’ll skip the Toronto plans

Does the fact these are reward flights (points + 2 CC vouchers) affect our rights?

Grateful for any and all advice. After the reward programme changes, this may be the final straw to end my 20+ year loyalty to VS!

Phil

[mitchja]

Welcome to V:Flyer

As your schedule change is more than 5Hrs different, now you are indeed entitled to a re-route or as full refund.

It also makes no difference what so ever what type of ticket you are flying on. Reward flight fares should be treated in exactly the same way as revenue fares when it comes to significant schedule changes.

As long as your departure point i.e. LHR remains the same you should be OK without having to cancel, refund and start the whole ticket booking process again.

You will need to call VS to discuss this.

Thanks for the reply and advice- will give them a call!