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 14, 2018, 3:39 pm
#676
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Barcelona, London, on a plane
Programs: BA Silver, TK E+, AA PP, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott LT Plat, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 13,031
Futile. It's like talking to robots... But if you're willing to HUACA enough you might get lucky.
Oct 22, 2018, 2:05 am
#679
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 261
Random question - but what's the difference between a cancellation and a change?
Is a change only for the same origin and destination?
Or is it between the same regions?
Have a flight from Hong Kong to Australia, but want to change the destination city (and likely airline carriers) - is this going to require a cancel and re-book? or with this be do-able as a change?
Is a change only for the same origin and destination?
Or is it between the same regions?
Have a flight from Hong Kong to Australia, but want to change the destination city (and likely airline carriers) - is this going to require a cancel and re-book? or with this be do-able as a change?
Oct 22, 2018, 2:32 am
#680
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,401
Random question - but what's the difference between a cancellation and a change?
Is a change only for the same origin and destination?
Or is it between the same regions?
Have a flight from Hong Kong to Australia, but want to change the destination city (and likely airline carriers) - is this going to require a cancel and re-book? or with this be do-able as a change?
Is a change only for the same origin and destination?
Or is it between the same regions?
Have a flight from Hong Kong to Australia, but want to change the destination city (and likely airline carriers) - is this going to require a cancel and re-book? or with this be do-able as a change?
So this would be a cancel and rebook.
Dec 18, 2018, 6:29 am
#681
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: SIN
Programs: SQ, UA, Delta, BMI(RIP), Marriott Lifetime Titanium, Hilton Diamond (Thanks Amex) Hyatt Discov
Posts: 1,942
Called at 8am EST andwas done cancelling two etickets in 24 minutes with an agent who spoke good English. Used a visa card and unlike what it says in the wiki, had to enter the full credit card number twice for the two tickets
Jan 11, 2019, 12:22 pm
#682
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 3,714
Cancelled a screenshot booking today, and while waiting for Avianca to call me back to get my credit card information, noticed that my cancelled record locator was instead changed to a MIA-BOG booking (?!!) Is that just a dummy booking that will be cancelled later once they refund my miles and take my cancellation payment?
Jan 11, 2019, 2:13 pm
#683
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AU
Programs: former Olympic Airways Gold (yeah - still proud of that!)
Posts: 14,401
Cancelled a screenshot booking today, and while waiting for Avianca to call me back to get my credit card information, noticed that my cancelled record locator was instead changed to a MIA-BOG booking (?!!) Is that just a dummy booking that will be cancelled later once they refund my miles and take my cancellation payment?
Jan 14, 2019, 12:23 am
#684
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 3,714
I haven't seen this before with Avianca (I have only cancelled one or two tickets) but i know other airlines like Qantas do this. They create a dummy PNR so that it stays 'live' in the system and then they can work on the cancellation without it disappearing from the system.
Jan 30, 2019, 10:53 am
#685
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: DCA
Posts: 818
Hi everyone,
I just booked a Lifemiles award ticket (for travel on a Lufthansa flight). My friend told me his legal name was "Peter Michael Bob Smith", so I put his first name as "Peter", middle as "Michael Bob" and last name as "Smith." It turns out his passport doesn't have the "Bob" part. Is that going to be a problem when he tries to board/go through security etc? I just booked this about 2 hours ago. What's the best way to fix/address?
I just booked a Lifemiles award ticket (for travel on a Lufthansa flight). My friend told me his legal name was "Peter Michael Bob Smith", so I put his first name as "Peter", middle as "Michael Bob" and last name as "Smith." It turns out his passport doesn't have the "Bob" part. Is that going to be a problem when he tries to board/go through security etc? I just booked this about 2 hours ago. What's the best way to fix/address?
Jan 30, 2019, 10:59 am
#686
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: BOM-SIN-EWR
Programs: UA*G (1K again), Sixt Plat, *was*: SQ QPP01 & SK EBS/EBG, LH SEN, AA EXP, 9wPlat
Posts: 8,606
Hi everyone,
I just booked a Lifemiles award ticket (for travel on a Lufthansa flight). My friend told me his legal name was "Peter Michael Bob Smith", so I put his first name as "Peter", middle as "Michael Bob" and last name as "Smith." It turns out his passport doesn't have the "Bob" part. Is that going to be a problem when he tries to board/go through security etc? I just booked this about 2 hours ago. What's the best way to fix/address?
I just booked a Lifemiles award ticket (for travel on a Lufthansa flight). My friend told me his legal name was "Peter Michael Bob Smith", so I put his first name as "Peter", middle as "Michael Bob" and last name as "Smith." It turns out his passport doesn't have the "Bob" part. Is that going to be a problem when he tries to board/go through security etc? I just booked this about 2 hours ago. What's the best way to fix/address?
You can also put in his e-mail address, phone numbers, passport numbers, visa info, etc. there.No issue.
Feb 14, 2019, 8:38 pm
#688
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 7,875
Called and cancelled in half an hour (first agent had to transfer me. Thought it would keep on ringing forever but got picked up eventually). Had to use automated system for entering credit card (agent asked before which type of card I'd use, Visa/MC/Amex).
Tip: don't actually say the pin when agent asks for pin (which I did).
Tip: don't actually say the pin when agent asks for pin (which I did).
Feb 16, 2019, 1:24 am
#689
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Tokyo
Programs: Marriott Plat, HH G,Hyatt E,*A Gold, OW Emerald.
Posts: 3,023
"Really sorry mate", "my bad" "Sorry I forgot I had different info on my passport" won't help you if the ticket has problems.
=>You wouldn't typically be able to penalize the friend/family if you had to incur a cost just to correct an issue!
Best way is to get the friend/family send you a screenshot of the bio page of their passports before you book.
Just good advice when you play the game of booking tickets for others (miles or cash).
Feb 16, 2019, 1:37 am
#690
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 183
Is anyone having a difficult time refunding tickets? Been trying to cancel a ticket for the last 2 weeks but every agent has issues taking payment. And their always complaining how the new system is in place and not working. Very frustrating!
