This was the response I received from Avianca, not what I expected...
Originally Posted by
tr3k
As I found out several times, Avianca will do nothing. They will not rebook any other flights, regardless of what's available. Your only option is to ask Avianca for a refund of the miles.
- If you ask for a refund based on flight cancelation, refund will be free, but it will take a long time. It took 2 weeks in March, probably longer now, to get the miles back. Taxes - you may never get back. I am still waiting on the credit card chargeback, as Avianca simply did not return them.
- Presumably, you can process this as a voluntary refund, in which case miles will be redeposited immediately. There is a $200 fee to do so. I did not try.
Then you can go and look for a new ticket.
So they still want to charge me for any changes as if was a voluntary cancellation...