Old Jan 11, 2014, 10:36 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: centrifuge41
WARNING - The cancellation fee has been increased up to $200 for long haul premium awards as of Feb 2017 .

T&Cs here:
How to cancel a Lifemiles ticket:
  • Lifemiles tickets cannot be canceled or changed online, you need to call the Avianca/TACA call center (+1 800 284 2622). #2 for English, then enter your Lifemiles number, enter #3 for Lifemiles then #3 again for transactions.
  • The cancellation fee is variable, $50-200. The change-fee is $150. This is per passenger/ticket. If you cancel, you will not get back the $25 booking fee paid when the ticket was issued.
  • The cancellation fee for Awards booked after 20th/2/2017: Award Tickets are reimbursable by paying a fee that varies depending on the redeemed route, the redemption channel and other circumstances, Accurate information of the reimbursement cost shall be informed at the time of redeeming the Award Ticket. If you cancel, you will not get back the $25 booking fee paid when the ticket was issued.
  • You need to set-up a phone PIN to do any changes to tickets on lifemiles.com before or during the call. Do this before you call as doing this while calling can add a couple of minutes to the call
  • Make sure your address and phone number are up to date in your lifemiles account. This will help immensely as spelling out everything letter-by-letter to the phone agent.
  • Your credit card information is collected via an automated system on the phone and not by the agent. The system first asks you for your card number (Visa, Mastercard, or American Express), followed by the expiration month/year in MMYY format, then followed by the Security Code. Press * to correct mistakes in entering numbers.
  • You need to enter/confirm credit card information for every ticket seperately. The process is simpler for remaining tickets as you only need to: first confirm the last 4 digits of the card (1 - Yes; 2 - No); followed by the expiration Month; followed by the expiration Year; followed by the Security code. For AMEX,(and sometimes for visa too ) the whole cared number has to be entered again
  • Similarly if you have used credit cards before, the system keeps information about your credit cards, so even for the first ticket, the process is simpler as you only need to confirm the last four digits of credit card, then expiration month, then expiration year last two digits only followed by the security code
  • Be prepared to spend between 20 minutes and 3 hours on the phone to get your changes / cancellation done, depending on the agent you get, or if you're really unlucky, you may spend days getting it sorted out.
  • Avianca transactions may trigger fraud alerts on your credit card, you may need to contact your bank about this.
  • Miles should be back in your account instantaneously, tax refund can take longer (2-3 weeks)
  • Money paid for miles purchased as part of "more money/less miles" choice will NOT be refunded in cash but as miles.
  • As soon as your flight is ticketed, the refund for a cash & miles booking will be only in miles
  • BE PATIENT: some agents are very knowledgeable and fast, others take hours to get a simple cancellation done
  • TAXES ARE REFUNDABLE: if an agent claims that taxes are non-refundable you may need to write an email to [email protected] to follow-up
  • You should be able to see your cancellation receipts under "Your Lifemiles" - "Print receipts" (Only works with Internet Explorer!)
  • NEW RULE - Ticket cannot be cancelled in the T-48 to T+24 window. Ticket can be cancelled after T+24 as long as ticket is valid, which is up to 365 days after issuance date (not travel date!)

Some agents have stated that the ticket can be cancelled even AFTER the flight dates, as long as the ticket is "open". Confirmed by FTers @ #334, 336, 371 and 445.
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Cancellation of Lifemiles ticket

Old Apr 12, 2013, 5:39 pm
  #16  
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 411
i cancelled a ticket and the miles were in my account in 3 days and was charged $50 on the day i called the call center.however, the taxes were refunded after about 2 weeks.
mrahul is offline  
Old Apr 12, 2013, 6:55 pm
  #17  
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: YYZ
Posts: 731
Anyone know if the $25 booking fee is refunded as well?
Coolers is offline  
Old Apr 13, 2013, 5:24 am
  #18  
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: YVR, KUL
Programs: AC, MH, BA, AF-KL
Posts: 2,883
Originally Posted by mrahul
i cancelled a ticket and the miles were in my account in 3 days and was charged $50 on the day i called the call center.however, the taxes were refunded after about 2 weeks.
Did you use the cash+miles option? Was the 60% part refunded in miles or cash?

Originally Posted by Coolers
Anyone know if the $25 booking fee is refunded as well?
Based on previous reports, no.
SilverChris is offline  
Old Apr 13, 2013, 5:33 am
  #19  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Denver DEN-APA
Programs: AF Platinum, EK Gold, LH Senator *Gold, AA EXP OWE Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 21,552
Originally Posted by SilverChris
Did you use the cash+miles option? Was the 60% part refunded in miles or cash?
The 60% is refunded in miles, IME.
SFO777 is offline  
Old Apr 13, 2013, 5:37 am
  #20  
GmK
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: HAM
Programs: A few
Posts: 213
Originally Posted by SFO777
The 60% is refunded in miles, IME.
That changes from month to month, they simply can't seem to decide which way they like better. Currently it's miles afaik.
GmK is offline  
Old Apr 14, 2013, 12:40 am
  #21  
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Programs: LH SEN, SPG Gold, HH Diamond
Posts: 1,021
Originally Posted by GmK
That changes from month to month, they simply can't seem to decide which way they like better. Currently it's miles afaik.
When was the last time you were refunded the money instead of the miles?
dre_techie is offline  
Old Apr 18, 2013, 12:04 am
  #22  
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: SIN
Programs: SQ, UA, Delta, BMI(RIP), Marriott Lifetime Titanium, Hilton Diamond (Thanks Amex) Hyatt Discov
Posts: 1,940
Originally Posted by Coolers
Anyone know if the $25 booking fee is refunded as well?
Or the $80 dollar phone booking fee?
SingaporeDon is offline  
Old Apr 18, 2013, 1:35 am
  #23  
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Programs: United 1K, HH Diamond, CBP Global Entry
Posts: 732
Ive been on hold/talking to TACA agents for more hours than i wanna admit last week. and they are soooo confused/disorganized in misinformation....

assortment of rubbish i get:
--on your 62.5k booking, use used 40% miles, then cash.... 'you only get refunded your 25,500 miles returned' (WRONG).

--waited 30 min to reach agent... agents says she'll research the record... was placed on hold for 67 minutes straight -- nobody every came back!!! i gave up and hung up.

--i called in an upon seeing the messy reservation - i hear the agent click and drop the line (it was a hang up not a disconnection!)

--you will get 'full refund' - but when i probed more - they said i wont get my taxes and booking fee back! i was fuming about taxes part, but i didnt wanna keep arguing with idiots.
epiding is offline  
Old Apr 18, 2013, 2:06 am
  #24  
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: OSL
Programs: EB Diamond - QR Gold - FB Silver
Posts: 72
Anyone tried to cancel tickets by e-mail yet?
When I enrolled in Lifemiles I had some problems with my personal info, and they replied very fast to e-mail's. They also got the problems sorted out.
Maybe better than phone?
aboerr is offline  
Old Apr 22, 2013, 1:16 am
  #25  
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: HAJ
Posts: 237
They dont allow cancellations over email. Only via phone or maybe at a TACA Ticket office
Psychowildfire is offline  
Old Apr 22, 2013, 10:43 am
  #26  
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: SIN
Programs: SQ, UA, Delta, BMI(RIP), Marriott Lifetime Titanium, Hilton Diamond (Thanks Amex) Hyatt Discov
Posts: 1,940
Originally Posted by Psychowildfire
They dont allow cancellations over email. Only via phone or maybe at a TACA Ticket office
Because they need your credit card details for the $50 cancellation fee charge
SingaporeDon is offline  
Old Apr 22, 2013, 2:34 pm
  #27  
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: YYZ
Posts: 731
Originally Posted by SingaporeDon
Because they need your credit card details for the $50 cancellation fee charge
Which is nuts. They could just subtract $50 from the refund like US does.
Coolers is offline  
Old Apr 23, 2013, 4:11 am
  #28  
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Programs: BAEC Gold, A3*G
Posts: 315
hi all,
Cancelled 3 or 4 days before the travel and the booking (with TK) was still active on the day of travel but I did get an email from LifeMiles including the 'cancellation code'

Having some minor issues with getting my taxes back: miles have been credited after a few telephone calls and a one-week wait (paid miles + cash; received back all in miles which I do not mind). No taxes though - so I phoned again and the agent seemed quite certain they did not refund taxes. I am sure this is not the case and will do the usual HUACA later today (hang up and call again): did anyone have similar experiences?

Cheers

Ozon
ozon78 is offline  
Old Apr 23, 2013, 11:56 am
  #29  
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Programs: SK EBD, AY Platinum
Posts: 90
I have booked a one-way award flight with LM in C with LH between Europe and Asia next month. I'm hoping they will release space in F for the same flight. Will LM/LH allow the same person to have two bookings on the same flight, one in C and one in F? I don't want to risk cancelling the C booking first and then seeing the F availability disappearing again before I make the new booking. I would rather make the F booking first, and then cancel the C booking once the former is confirmed and ticketed.
JackieTrent is offline  
Old May 5, 2013, 7:22 am
  #30  
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Programs: BAEC Gold, A3*G
Posts: 315
Originally Posted by ozon78
hi all,
Cancelled 3 or 4 days before the travel and the booking (with TK) was still active on the day of travel but I did get an email from LifeMiles including the 'cancellation code'

Having some minor issues with getting my taxes back: miles have been credited after a few telephone calls and a one-week wait (paid miles + cash; received back all in miles which I do not mind). No taxes though - so I phoned again and the agent seemed quite certain they did not refund taxes. I am sure this is not the case and will do the usual HUACA later today (hang up and call again): did anyone have similar experiences?

Cheers

Ozon
Just an update for those cancelling: despite of all what the US line agents said about me not getting any taxes back - it's been processed (minus the booking fee) and back into my CC account: took about 10 days after the miles refund
ozon78 is offline  

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