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 May 5, 2013, 1:29 pm
  #31  
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: YYZ
Posts: 731
I'm sure everyone would find it helpful if future reports of cancellations included whether LM is refunding the 60% of purchased miles in cash or miles.
Coolers is offline  
Old May 5, 2013, 1:40 pm
  #32  
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Programs: SK EBD, AY Platinum
Posts: 90
LM is indeed refunding purchased miles in miles to your account.
JackieTrent is offline  
Old May 5, 2013, 3:36 pm
  #33  
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Melbourne/Bangkok
Programs: A3*G, QF PLATINUM, BA GOLD, VA GOLD, HH DIAMOND
Posts: 2,245
Originally Posted by JackieTrent
LM is indeed refunding purchased miles in miles to your account.
Not with me last week.
Aussie_flyer is offline  
Old May 5, 2013, 10:23 pm
  #34  
 
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 Aussie_flyer
Not with me last week.
Did they give you the cash back instead of miles as is the experience of others? i.e. did you get back the exact number of miles and cash you had paid, less the non-refundable $25 booking fee?
SingaporeDon is offline  
Old May 5, 2013, 10:38 pm
  #35  
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: YYZ
Posts: 731
Does anyone have experience cancelling tickets on AviancaTaca metal? I'm referring to those offered when you select them in the search engine with results and pricing which differs from their published *A award chart? No $25 booking fee is collected on these but the terms also state no cancellations allowed.
Coolers is offline  
Old May 5, 2013, 10:39 pm
  #36  
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Melbourne/Bangkok
Programs: A3*G, QF PLATINUM, BA GOLD, VA GOLD, HH DIAMOND
Posts: 2,245
Originally Posted by SingaporeDon
Did they give you the cash back instead of miles as is the experience of others? i.e. did you get back the exact number of miles and cash you had paid, less the non-refundable $25 booking fee?
flight not yet ticketed, the credit card transaction was voided/refunded, the exact amount of money i paid i got back to the card, it was not refunded as miles. the miles i got back were what I had in the account before i made the booking. The $25 fee was refunded too. in short, i was back exactly where i started. which is what i wanted anyway
Aussie_flyer is offline  
Old May 5, 2013, 11:36 pm
  #37  
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: YVR
Programs: Aeroplan
Posts: 216
Originally Posted by Aussie_flyer
flight not yet ticketed, the credit card transaction was voided/refunded, the exact amount of money i paid i got back to the card, it was not refunded as miles. the miles i got back were what I had in the account before i made the booking. The $25 fee was refunded too. in short, i was back exactly where i started. which is what i wanted anyway
In this case, did you have to pay the $50 cancellation fee ?
choupeo is offline  
Old May 6, 2013, 12:26 am
  #38  
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Melbourne/Bangkok
Programs: A3*G, QF PLATINUM, BA GOLD, VA GOLD, HH DIAMOND
Posts: 2,245
Originally Posted by choupeo
In this case, did you have to pay the $50 cancellation fee ?
nope
Aussie_flyer is offline  
Old May 7, 2013, 9:33 am
  #39  
 
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 Aussie_flyer
flight not yet ticketed, the credit card transaction was voided/refunded, the exact amount of money i paid i got back to the card, it was not refunded as miles. the miles i got back were what I had in the account before i made the booking. The $25 fee was refunded too. in short, i was back exactly where i started. which is what i wanted anyway
Looks like this is a special case where the original transaction did not really happen, and so the account holder was put back in the position re. miles and cash where he started ( confirmed by LM refunding the booking fee and not charging cancellation fee)

In normal cases, where the award ticket has been issued, I think the refunds come back in miles only and not in miles plus cash
SingaporeDon is offline  
Old May 11, 2013, 11:49 am
  #40  
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: BZG
Programs: LH FTL, PC Plat,Hilton Gold
Posts: 128
Originally Posted by JackieTrent
LM is indeed refunding purchased miles in miles to your account.
I can confirm.

Had a 40 minutes coversation with LM agent, after that 48 hours when miles came back to my account ( with 60% in miles instead of cash). My CC was charged 100 usd ( cancellation fee is 50 usd per person) I still wait for taxes to return to my CC ( they told me it will take 5 days).
ulus is offline  
Old May 15, 2013, 9:36 am
  #41  
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Germany
Programs: LH FTL, BA Bronze
Posts: 826
I thought the reports of the call centre were exaggerated but .... they are not. I just spent 63 minutes with the guy in the call centre (the 10 minute wait not included). Even with low Latin American wages I cannot imagine this to be a cost-effective way to perform a very simple transaction. BA let you do it online, it takes two minutes.
planestupid is offline  
Old May 15, 2013, 10:50 am
  #42  
formerly sahiljain22
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: BOS;NYC;YVR;YYZ;DEL;BOM
Programs: Amex Plat; HH Diamond; SPG Plat; Hyatt Diamond; United 1K; National EE; HSBC Premier
Posts: 532
hey guys,

Any thoughts whether automated cancelling with 24/48 hours from a flight is a safe option? has it taken longer for you all to ever get the cancellation notice? I am waiting on a visa for a trip booked, and might have to attempt cancellation on a very short notice.
sj22 is offline  
Old May 15, 2013, 12:44 pm
  #43  
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 3,835
My fresh experience... Just canceled a booking for two under one PNR. Quick verification of my ID and reservation.

Each passenger needs to be canceled separately by agreeing to pay 50 bucks and entering the CC, exp. date and CVV code. The system instructions didn't work so the agent translated the process. He was definitely hearing during the process.

Now, card got charged twice for 50, agent confirmed the cancellation and told me I will get my miles back in 24-72 hours LESS the taxes. I argued they must be refunded, he claimed they are collected by the airport(s) and cannot be refunded. Told him to ask the supervisor, 5mins later he told me SOME of the taxes can (not will) be returned. This is where I ended the call. This was TACA call center, US number. Any advice how to proceed? I can still see the details of the reservation on CMT/SQ. No email confirmation...

D'uh.

Update: couple of hours later, all miles posted back. The purchased + the redeemed. Now I will wait a week to see if they refund the taxes.

Update: 2 days later ALL taxes refunded.

Last edited by mlqsko; May 28, 2013 at 7:34 am
mlqsko is offline  
Old May 15, 2013, 12:56 pm
  #44  
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Germany
Programs: LH FTL, BA Bronze
Posts: 826
Originally Posted by sahiljain22
hey guys,

Any thoughts whether automated cancelling with 24/48 hours from a flight is a safe option? has it taken longer for you all to ever get the cancellation notice? I am waiting on a visa for a trip booked, and might have to attempt cancellation on a very short notice.
I didn't know there was an automated cancellation system. If you are thinking of cancelling last minute make sure you have at least an hour on your hands to do it and access to cheap calls.
planestupid is offline  
Old Jun 5, 2013, 9:45 am
  #45  
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 1,252
Data point -- cancelled a LM ticket by following instructions in OP post. Took about 30 minutes total, with several times on hold. The agent was pleasant and professional and courteous, received an emailed receipt for the $50 fee later in the afternoon that same day, and miles are back in account the day after. Having a good agent makes the process easy and painless, just a little time consuming.
bangkokiscool is offline  

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