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 Jun 5, 2013, 12:43 pm
  #46  
formerly sahiljain22
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
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Originally Posted by planestupid
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.
Just my datapoint:

Cancelled 1 day before departure and tickets were cancelled within a few hours. Agent told me that cancellations are usually processed by Miami office so earlier in the day requests may be cancelled by noon, but late evening requests may be cancelled next day.

I did have one ticket that got cancelled without my card getting charged, but the refund did not come for 2 weeks, and I called back and they fixed it within 10-15 minutes.
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Old Jun 18, 2013, 2:03 pm
  #47  
kkl
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 1,023
If im cancelling a ticket, will I get the refund in miles or miles + tax ? Does it make any difference?

Seems like getting a miles only refund is the least problematic?
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Old Jun 18, 2013, 2:30 pm
  #48  
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
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refund in miles only
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Old Jun 18, 2013, 2:53 pm
  #49  
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
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Originally Posted by kkl
If im cancelling a ticket, will I get the refund in miles or miles + tax ? Does it make any difference?
You get the miles refunded 100%. The taxes were refunded 100% to your credit card (except booking fee). You will be charged the USD 50 EQV 'cancellation fee' to your credit card.

If your ticket was paid by miles & cash, the cash part will be refunded in miles.
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Old Jun 18, 2013, 3:51 pm
  #50  
kkl
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 1,023
Thanks for the prompt answer!
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Old Jun 23, 2013, 10:53 am
  #51  
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Had to cancel a ticket today and a new best for me. Including a 5-6 minutes wait time prior to get an agent, the call took me 13 min and 45 seconds!

will see if i get the miles back in 72 hours.... but ticket appears cancelled on checkmytrip!

One advice to all, have a credit card stored on your account, so you only need the last 4 numbers and exp date. Otherwise it takes forever to spell out the address and all dtails.

Synd
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Old Jun 24, 2013, 8:50 am
  #52  
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Alabama
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Originally Posted by synd
One advice to all, have a credit card stored on your account, so you only need the last 4 numbers and exp date. Otherwise it takes forever to spell out the address and all dtails.

Synd
Well, we want, but how to store a card in our account? try to find it out, but unsuccessful.
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Old Jun 25, 2013, 10:27 am
  #53  
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If I remember correctly it was done via the call center. Ask them to store a card in your account next time you call!

Synd
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Old Jun 27, 2013, 2:59 pm
  #54  
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: SIN
Programs: SQ, UA, Delta, BMI(RIP), Marriott Lifetime Titanium, Hilton Diamond (Thanks Amex) Hyatt Discov
Posts: 1,940
Quick, no hassle cancellation

Quick Data point
Called US number 1 800 284 2622
Got through to Columbia
CSR Phillip spoke good English, asked for 4 digit PIN to be entered in the system
Asked for ticket number (surprisingly, the Lifemiles ticket confirmation email did not have ticket number, but I got it from My Flights!)
Told me cancellation fee is $50 and asked me to enter Credit card number in the automated system which went through on the second attempt
CSR came back on line, double checked that I wanted to cancel the ticket for sure, did it in 30 seconds, confirmed that I will get miles back in 72 hours, and taxes back in 2-3 months!!
He also claimed that once I had entered the credit card number in the system today, I will be captured in my Lifemiles details, so next time I am buying a ticket on the phone, I don't need to give the CSR my credit card details again on the phone

Total time taken, about 10 minutes!!

(Better than the Qantas FF number in the US, which remained unanswered for 9 minutes, and then the Kiwi CSR insisted I have to call back when Melbourne is open to buy the 500 top-up miles I needed!!)

Last edited by SingaporeDon; Sep 30, 2013 at 6:33 pm
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Old Jun 28, 2013, 4:37 am
  #55  
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: OSL
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Had my first call to lifemiles yesterday. Needed to cancel two award tickets.
Called the US number.
Think they spoke good enough english, very helpful.
They explain that I will get all the points + cash back in points, within 72 hours. Postet in my account after around 10-12 hours... I think. And that the taxes would be credited within 30-60 days.
But, the automated system for the credit card was really difficult to hear.
All in all a lot better than I feared.
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Old Jun 28, 2013, 7:26 am
  #56  
 
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Sounds like their call centre is slowly moving towards the right direction!
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Old Jun 28, 2013, 9:23 am
  #57  
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: SIN
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Originally Posted by synd
If I remember correctly it was done via the call center. Ask them to store a card in your account next time you call!

Synd
The CSR claimed it was stored when you enter card details for the $50 payment, but unfortunately when I tried to ticket online today, the supposedly stored credit card did not show up. So not sure how you get them to store your credit card details to make online or $50 penalty payments on phone easier
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Old Jun 28, 2013, 3:55 pm
  #58  
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
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They told me it was stored also......
I cancelled two different tickets, and I only insert the credit card details for the first one.
Will wait and see the next time.
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Old Jul 1, 2013, 10:14 am
  #59  
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
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One question about cancellation of LifeMiles award ticket.

If i have paid a ticket with 40% miles and 60% cash, f.e 21.500 Miles and a couple of hundred bucks.

How do i get paid back?
Miles + money?
Miles only?

If Miles only, how many miles for the cash part? 1000 per 15 dollar? or 1000 per 30 dollar?
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Old Jul 1, 2013, 11:44 am
  #60  
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
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Originally Posted by FirstClassSE
One question about cancellation of LifeMiles award ticket.

If i have paid a ticket with 40% miles and 60% cash, f.e 21.500 Miles and a couple of hundred bucks.

How do i get paid back?
Miles + money?
Miles only?

If Miles only, how many miles for the cash part? 1000 per 15 dollar? or 1000 per 30 dollar?
Miles only, at least I got it (a few days ago). And taxes you get back in cash.
When you book the ticket you pay, lets say, 100K miles total.
40K miles and 60K bought miles. You will get 100K miles back.

But, I think some people reported they got the cash back instead of miles some time ago.
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