Jan 11, 14, 10:36 am
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:
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). #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
Mar 18, 23, 4:19 pm
#1351
Join Date: Sep 2022
Posts: 2
Interesting DP - booked LH F in a haste with Lifemiles. Immediately realized this wasn't the 747 (one of my remaining bucket list experiences along with the FRA F experience) and called to cancel within 2 minutes, fully prepared to pay the $200 fee for my mistake. For whatever reason, they didn't charge me the $200 fee. Maybe because the reservation may not have been ticketed yet?
Edit - and the miles were back in my account by then end of the call.
Edit - and the miles were back in my account by then end of the call.
Mar 19, 23, 12:05 pm
#1352
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: USA
Programs: DL PM - IC RA - HHonors Gold - Hertz Gold - AA - US - CO - Choice Privileges
Posts: 1,425
Originally Posted by unityofsaints
How do I set up this phone pin ahead of the call to cancel? The AV website is very confusing, a lot of the links seem to just lead to the homepage 
account access / pin
Mar 22, 23, 3:31 am
#1353
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 3,719
Originally Posted by SingaporeDon
AI changed flight time by just 15 minutes
Departs: JFK on 18 Apr 23 at 11:40 instead of 11:55
Surprised to learn when I called Lifemiles that there is no charge for cancellation as there was schedule change by operating airline
So looks like " significant chage ( 2+ hours) " does not apply in every case. Or maybe I just lucked out with a very helpful agent
The whole call took 10 minutes, perfect English, very efficient.
Departs: JFK on 18 Apr 23 at 11:40 instead of 11:55
Surprised to learn when I called Lifemiles that there is no charge for cancellation as there was schedule change by operating airline
So looks like " significant chage ( 2+ hours) " does not apply in every case. Or maybe I just lucked out with a very helpful agent
The whole call took 10 minutes, perfect English, very efficient.
As always it never hurts to try, even HUCA a few times. You never know.
Mar 22, 23, 1:51 pm
#1354
Join Date: Mar 2023
Posts: 1
Originally Posted by SingaporeDon
AI changed flight time by just 15 minutes
Departs: JFK on 18 Apr 23 at 11:40 instead of 11:55
Surprised to learn when I called Lifemiles that there is no charge for cancellation as there was schedule change by operating airline
So looks like " significant chage ( 2+ hours) " does not apply in every case. Or maybe I just lucked out with a very helpful agent
The whole call took 10 minutes, perfect English, very efficient.
Departs: JFK on 18 Apr 23 at 11:40 instead of 11:55
Surprised to learn when I called Lifemiles that there is no charge for cancellation as there was schedule change by operating airline
So looks like " significant chage ( 2+ hours) " does not apply in every case. Or maybe I just lucked out with a very helpful agent
The whole call took 10 minutes, perfect English, very efficient.
AI changed a flight arrival timings by 20 minutes.
After reading this thread tried my luck with the call support, I found it very difficult to understand the English,
Struggled to convey my concern and he put me up with another person dealing with disruptions from the partner flights.
That person had much better english and before he could raise a request the call got dropped. (Ran out of international minutes)
With that disappointment I decided to give up and call it a night, Luckily within 10 minutes got a call back from the same support agent!
He called out of courtesy as the line got cut and gave me a ticket number and mentioned I will get a revert in 7 working days.
Within 12 hours I got the points back in my account and no money paid for cancellation. Just need to wait for that hefty 251$ UK tax back in my bank account.
