Jan 11, 2014, 10:36 am
Last edit by: TEDisgone
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:
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.
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)(number updated to +1 866 919 0081 as of February 2024). #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.
Cancellation of Lifemiles ticket
Jun 29, 2014, 3:40 pm
#302
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: HAM
Programs: A few
Posts: 213
The main number re-routes you depending on the time of day anyhow (I started asking which call center I have reached), so it's not dependent on which you reach. The El Savador and the US center have these troubles, if you can give me another number with english agents I can try directly, let me know ^
Jul 3, 2014, 7:37 am
#303
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Programs: TK Elite, Hilton Diamond, BA Silver
Posts: 967
Called this afternoon to cancel a booking. First 2 attempts were unsuccessful. The agent told me he would ask his supervisor, and eventually got help from someone who "adjusted the system". Instead of the usual automated one, I had to give the agent my visa card number, expiration and last 3 digits. After a few minutes, I was informed that the cancellation went thru. Miles should be back in 1-2 days and taxes in 1-3 months plus 3% charge for the transaction. Call duration:47 mins.
Jul 7, 2014, 10:43 pm
#304
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Saigon/Hanoi/San Francisco
Posts: 1,779
I can confirm that this is in fact true. Recently instead of paying for a date change I just left the ticket and called up a few months later gave the eticket number and reissued for a new date.
I have made around 10 cancellations in the last year and almost always they have forgotten to cancel the ticket which is actually quite bad as they then block up FF seats that someone else could have taken. They do get around to it later though.
I have made around 10 cancellations in the last year and almost always they have forgotten to cancel the ticket which is actually quite bad as they then block up FF seats that someone else could have taken. They do get around to it later though.
Jul 7, 2014, 11:49 pm
#305
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 3,839
Someone attempted this recently and got all tix on same PNR canceled by the agent. I would leave it as NOSHOW.
Jul 9, 2014, 4:10 am
#307
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2003
Programs: BA Silver, EY Gold, HH Diamond, IHG Plat
Posts: 12,210
Called up on Sunday and it took 1hr and she hadn't even done one so hung up.
Jul 12, 2014, 12:30 am
#308
Join Date: May 2005
Location: SFO
Programs: SQ QPPS, *A Gold, EK Skywards Gold
Posts: 673
Revoking a cancellation
Can you revoke a cancellation if the actual award ticket has not been cancelled yet? I called in to cancel a booking, paid the $50 via phone, but then once I hung up I realized I did not plan out alternate flights carefully enough.
I called within 10 minutes to see if they can revoke. Spent 1 hour while the CSR tried working with the "back office". She finally came back and said they could not recover the booking even though the ticket is still active.
Checkmytrip still has the ticket number and so does SQ (the operating carrier). Do I stand a chance of getting this reservation reinstated?
I called within 10 minutes to see if they can revoke. Spent 1 hour while the CSR tried working with the "back office". She finally came back and said they could not recover the booking even though the ticket is still active.
Checkmytrip still has the ticket number and so does SQ (the operating carrier). Do I stand a chance of getting this reservation reinstated?
Last edited by kaushik123; Jul 12, 2014 at 12:42 am
Jul 12, 2014, 3:43 am
#309
Join Date: May 2012
Location: SXE
Programs: QF LTG, VA Gold, BA Gold, HH, SFSC
Posts: 502
Can you revoke a cancellation if the actual award ticket has not been cancelled yet? I called in to cancel a booking, paid the $50 via phone, but then once I hung up I realized I did not plan out alternate flights carefully enough.
I called within 10 minutes to see if they can revoke. Spent 1 hour while the CSR tried working with the "back office". She finally came back and said they could not recover the booking even though the ticket is still active.
Checkmytrip still has the ticket number and so does SQ (the operating carrier). Do I stand a chance of getting this reservation reinstated?
I called within 10 minutes to see if they can revoke. Spent 1 hour while the CSR tried working with the "back office". She finally came back and said they could not recover the booking even though the ticket is still active.
Checkmytrip still has the ticket number and so does SQ (the operating carrier). Do I stand a chance of getting this reservation reinstated?
Jul 17, 2014, 9:51 am
#312
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: CA
Posts: 1,310
i booked a ticket last night at around 8pm PT (7/17). i am trying to cancel my ticket right now but am getting some bs about how i had to cancel by midnight last night to avoid any fees.
how do i go about cancelling my ticket without getting charged? I found a better flight thus need to cancel my ticket and need to rebook. i'm tempted to just pay 150 and do a charge back.
how do i go about cancelling my ticket without getting charged? I found a better flight thus need to cancel my ticket and need to rebook. i'm tempted to just pay 150 and do a charge back.
Jul 18, 2014, 9:04 am
#315
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: ATL
Posts: 186
Just another data point:
- Called Friday morning during working hours.
- Cancellation took 22 minutes.
- I used the standard "Booking" option (#1) as opposed to Lifemiles as that option kept having technical issues and hanging up on me!
- Miles back in account instantly
- If you are canceling a ticket booked out of another person's account you may want to use Skype. I had used a cell number associated with another account and the agent seemed to go the extra mile to verify identity, and this seemed to add 3-4 minutes on hold during the conversation.
- Called Friday morning during working hours.
- Cancellation took 22 minutes.
- I used the standard "Booking" option (#1) as opposed to Lifemiles as that option kept having technical issues and hanging up on me!
- Miles back in account instantly
- If you are canceling a ticket booked out of another person's account you may want to use Skype. I had used a cell number associated with another account and the agent seemed to go the extra mile to verify identity, and this seemed to add 3-4 minutes on hold during the conversation.