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
Oct 9, 2021, 4:27 am
#1276
Join Date: May 2004
Location: SIN (LEJ once a year)
Programs: SQ, LH, BA, IHG Diamond AMB, HH Gold, SLH Indulged, Accor Gold, Hyatt Discoverist
Posts: 7,739
Well, I'll be damned, I just received a set of refunds from flights cancelled about 4 months ago, not bad. Overall though, it's still a bit luck of the draw. Nice if something comes through, but don't get too upset if not. YMMV.
Oct 14, 2021, 12:46 pm
#1277
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 432
More data points:
- Called to get miles back in late September, and they came back within an hour. Interesting, this call, I mis-entered the LM# on the phone prompts, but had all the ticket info, and that’s all they needed.
- A week ago around Oct 7th, called to refund a LM ticket, got a case number, and it took about four days until miles were back.
Oct 19, 2021, 2:47 pm
#1278
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 173
Oct 20, 2021, 6:06 pm
#1280
Join Date: Aug 2021
Posts: 45
Still waiting on one set of taxes/fees. The miles were returned last month and I received saying the return of money was authorized. Today I received this email saying they tried to credit my card but can't. I need to send over a bunch of info to some email they provided.
Oct 20, 2021, 6:16 pm
#1281
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,406
Still waiting on one set of taxes/fees. The miles were returned last month and I received saying the return of money was authorized. Today I received this email saying they tried to credit my card but can't. I need to send over a bunch of info to some email they provided.
Oct 20, 2021, 6:18 pm
#1282
Join Date: Aug 2021
Posts: 45
The email is [email protected] and asked for credit card statement confirming name and account number of first 6 and last 4. My statements don't even have that information. I'm going to try calling
Oct 22, 2021, 7:52 pm
#1286
Join Date: Nov 2019
Posts: 153
Is there any authoritative guidance on how big a schedule change needs to be to cause a problem with the eTicket not being re-issued? I’ve got a five minute schedule change on a Swiss award that I tried calling in to have fixed today, and of course it’s not fixed. Is there some dusty rule that will keep me covered, or do I need to call back again on Monday to try again?
Oct 23, 2021, 2:05 am
#1287
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,406
Is there any authoritative guidance on how big a schedule change needs to be to cause a problem with the eTicket not being re-issued? I’ve got a five minute schedule change on a Swiss award that I tried calling in to have fixed today, and of course it’s not fixed. Is there some dusty rule that will keep me covered, or do I need to call back again on Monday to try again?
Oct 27, 2021, 6:41 am
#1288
Join Date: Nov 2019
Posts: 153
As a tip to others, it appears that Swiss is changing their website to more closely match that of Lufthansa. One unfortunate side effect is that the new reservation management screen does not have a way to request a copy of your eTicket. However, if you search for your booking by eTicket number (which you can find by looking up your PNR on Avianca’s website), it will still send you to the old reservation management screen, and you can have a copy of your eTicket emailed to you from there.
Oct 27, 2021, 3:54 pm
#1289
Join Date: Jun 2018
Programs: Alaska, Bonvoy, HH
Posts: 482
I just finished a TATL round trip exclusively via LM and I made multiple changes to the outbound and return by the time everything settled. I'm being patient for now and they opened two refund requests on my behalf already, but I'm hoping that in the end I get taxes/fees back for no less than 4 different itins. Will update the thread with my... mileage 
Oct 27, 2021, 9:46 pm
#1290
Join Date: Jan 2009
Programs: Hilton Diamond, IHG Spire Ambassador, Radisson Gold, Hyatt Discoverist
Posts: 3,623
I'm un Ukraine and I've got a Lifemiles ticket for a flight on Turkish departing in about 3 hours from now..
Unfortunately I've come down with some kind of stomach flu or food poisoning and don't think I'll be able to fly.
From the Wiki:
"
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."
Does this mean I can just book a another ticket home for tomorrow, and then after I get come call Lifemiles and get the miles back with no fee?
That sounds too good to be true really. I'd be pleased though.
Unfortunately I've come down with some kind of stomach flu or food poisoning and don't think I'll be able to fly.
From the Wiki:
"
- 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."
Does this mean I can just book a another ticket home for tomorrow, and then after I get come call Lifemiles and get the miles back with no fee?
That sounds too good to be true really. I'd be pleased though.