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
Apr 24, 2018, 8:17 pm
#631
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,401
My experience with a payment failing is that the agent comes right back on the line and asks you to try again, or to try a different card.
Apr 24, 2018, 10:50 pm
#632
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: PVG
Programs: SK*G, QR*G
Posts: 514
Bad luck.. I did get a warning here but also most people said miles would comes back right away so I thought I'd take the risk. Now the award is no longer available and I'm out $225 in fees.
Last edited by nick5000; Apr 24, 2018 at 10:59 pm
Apr 24, 2018, 10:54 pm
#633
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Global
Posts: 5,992
CakkCa again now. The agent said the reservation is cancelled but that it will take 72 hours for the miles to come back to my account, if the payment was successful. If not I guess I have to call again and try to pay again to get the miles back.
Bad luck.. I did get a warning here but also most people said miles would comes back right away so I thought I'd take the risk. Now the award is no longer available and I'm out $225 in fees.
Bad luck.. I did get a warning here but also most people said miles would comes back right away so I thought I'd take the risk. Now the award is no longer available and I'm out $225 in fees.
Jun 23, 2018, 4:14 pm
#636
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,401
Jun 24, 2018, 7:55 am
#637
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 3,713
Thanks LHR/MEL/Europe FF. I read the part about the PIN setup info in the Wiki, but how exactly do I setup the PIN? Is it done over the phone, before cancelling the ticket, and without hanging up before cancelling? On the website?
Jun 24, 2018, 2:37 pm
#638
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Tokyo
Programs: Marriott Plat, HH G,Hyatt E,*A Gold, OW Emerald.
Posts: 3,023
Jun 24, 2018, 6:01 pm
#639
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 3,713
https://www.lifemiles.com/index.aspx -> My account -> My profile -> Password and PIN -> enter 4 digit PIN number, and click "Save"
Jun 25, 2018, 6:21 pm
#640
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 3,713
Called to cancel this afternoon, some notes (took about 20 minutes):
- I authorized my credit card to accept charges from Avianca.
- The initial phone menu changed as compared to the Wiki; landed in the wrong department, but an agent was able to forward me to the right one.
- Their PIN English voice recording was broken, so I had to listen to it in Spanish. lol. Not being a Spanish speaker, I just entered the PIN number, which worked.
- They confirmed the cancellation (res no longer shows up on Lufthansa), BUT their payment department had "trouble" processing my credit card payment even though I entered correctly.
- Miles not re-deposited yet.
- They instructed me to wait for email confirming cancellation fee, which should come within 24 hours.
Should I wait 24 hours or call back to confirm that payment went through? I checked my credit card account and it seems like they didn't even attempt to charge my card. No pending charges of any kind.
Called back again and they instructed me to wait the full 24 hours as the Payment Department will process, but attached a priority request to refund my miles asap.
I'm cautiously optimistic. All the agents were very friendly and spoke good English.
- I authorized my credit card to accept charges from Avianca.
- The initial phone menu changed as compared to the Wiki; landed in the wrong department, but an agent was able to forward me to the right one.
- Their PIN English voice recording was broken, so I had to listen to it in Spanish. lol. Not being a Spanish speaker, I just entered the PIN number, which worked.
- They confirmed the cancellation (res no longer shows up on Lufthansa), BUT their payment department had "trouble" processing my credit card payment even though I entered correctly.
- Miles not re-deposited yet.
- They instructed me to wait for email confirming cancellation fee, which should come within 24 hours.
Should I wait 24 hours or call back to confirm that payment went through? I checked my credit card account and it seems like they didn't even attempt to charge my card. No pending charges of any kind.
Called back again and they instructed me to wait the full 24 hours as the Payment Department will process, but attached a priority request to refund my miles asap.
I'm cautiously optimistic. All the agents were very friendly and spoke good English.
Last edited by iluvdoco; Jun 25, 2018 at 7:35 pm
Jun 25, 2018, 7:01 pm
#641
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,401
Called to cancel this afternoon, some notes:
- I authorized my credit card to accept charges from Avianca.
- The initial phone menu changed as compared to the Wiki; landed in the wrong department, but an agent was able to forward me to the right one.
- Their PIN English voice recording was broken, so I had to listen to it in Spanish. lol. Not being a Spanish speaker, I just entered the PIN number, which worked.
- They confirmed the cancellation (res no longer shows up on Lufthansa), BUT their payment department had "trouble" processing my credit card payment even though I entered correctly.
- Miles not re-deposited yet.
- They instructed me to wait for email confirming cancellation fee, which should come within 24 hours.
Should I wait 24 hours or call back to confirm that payment went through? I checked my credit card account and it seems like they didn't even attempt to charge my card. No pending charges of any kind.
- I authorized my credit card to accept charges from Avianca.
- The initial phone menu changed as compared to the Wiki; landed in the wrong department, but an agent was able to forward me to the right one.
- Their PIN English voice recording was broken, so I had to listen to it in Spanish. lol. Not being a Spanish speaker, I just entered the PIN number, which worked.
- They confirmed the cancellation (res no longer shows up on Lufthansa), BUT their payment department had "trouble" processing my credit card payment even though I entered correctly.
- Miles not re-deposited yet.
- They instructed me to wait for email confirming cancellation fee, which should come within 24 hours.
Should I wait 24 hours or call back to confirm that payment went through? I checked my credit card account and it seems like they didn't even attempt to charge my card. No pending charges of any kind.
You can wait 24 hours, see if anything materialises to save yourself another call. Normally however when the CC fails at the time the agent tells you to try again (and again).
Jun 25, 2018, 7:34 pm
#642
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 3,713
yeah... if there’s no pending charge, not even for $1 (which they seem to put through as a tester), I’d say it’s unlikely the cancellation has been processed. Many banks have problems with transactions from columbia... they don’t even reach the bank’s systems. I read an explanation for that, I think here on FT, something about the CC company doing something at the point of sale blocking the card before it even gets through.
You can wait 24 hours, see if anything materialises to save yourself another call. Normally however when the CC fails at the time the agent tells you to try again (and again).
Jun 25, 2018, 8:01 pm
#643
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,401
Jun 26, 2018, 6:46 am
#645
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,401
