Flight cancellation - will Qantas cover accommodation?

I have a business class flight booked in a couple of weeks and I just received a flight change notice as Qantas has cancelled the flight. The problem is they've rebooked me on a flight 6 hours earlier which doesn't work due to planned meetings and they have no other available flights that day.

I'm wondering what the etiquite is here. Since I'll now have to stay an extra night due to their cancellation, would I have any success hitting them up to cover the accommodation cost for the night?

QF won't cover the cost of your accomm as they have provided a same day alternative to the cancellation.

My view in those situations is don’t ask don’t get. I had the opposite where they would not put me on an alternate flight after they missed a connection but put me in a hotel instead and fly the next day, as it would have been more expensive for them to put me on another airline even if it was a codeshare partner. But as I said it is worth a try, but don’t hold your breath.

I would agree. Qantas is NOT bound to cover you for accommodation, and I don't even think any form of travel insurance would, this is just "sh*t happens" territory. But it won't hurt you to make your case to Qantas and see what they say, at the very least they might offer you a free night via a travel voucher to spend at the Qantas Hotels site.

By extension, if you were booked on a late evening flight that got cancelled and they offered you an early morning flight same day - thus depriving you of 12+ hours to do things you had planned - they still would not be bound to cover accommodation. Why does that not seem right? It's yet another reason why Canberra should pull finger and bring in a code of rights for air travellers.

Yes, It would be nice if Australia had a code similar to that of Europe

https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/passenger-rights/air/index_en.htm

At least a law would stop Qantas from providing their usual below acceptable customer service

@RedWood

As regular fliers, I'm certain we've all got our own tales of 'sh*t happens' scenarios where QF cancellations/delays not covered by their narrow policy have meant we've had to pay out of our own wallets for an unexpected overnight stay. It last happened to me when baggage offloading got delayed by nearly two hours late one night, causing me to miss a home connection. It's rare, admittedly. But I'm all for a European style 'pax bill of rights'. Now if only one of the major political parties would pick this issue up and run with it.....it won't matter that much to the corporate/expense account crowd, but it would be a real winner with the heartland.

So due to dodgy health reasons or other stupid govt reasons, airline has to cancel a flight (they could fly empty, but they are so close to going broke now), you want compo ? FFS. Many airlines inc qantas are hanging on by a thread.

Last Sat Fiji air, cancelled a flight from LAX to NAN, due to ash cloud. So you are suggesting they should have flown through ash cloud or what ? Airline is not responsible for volcanic eruptions. Hear nutter greenies want to ban volcanic eruptions as they cause 50% of global warming. That's more than China, India, USA combined.