LM award cancellation fee waived for Covid-19 (various reasons)

[luxury-lizard]

I have a friend (whom I advise on all things FF award related) who has 2 separate awards for 2 pax in June: SYD-DEL stopover then DEL-ARN. Now they want to cancel their India portion of the trip due to Covid-19. OF course this has the flow on effect of then needing to cancel the DEL-ARN itinerary - total cost would be $US200*4.

She has sent an e-mail to LM seeking a waiver on the cancellation fees - still waiting for a response. I read a couple of posts on FT regarding the fee waiver and it seems inconsistent on the part of LM.

Would appreciate if others could post their experience here - I'll post back when my friend gets a response. (Note I friends wish to fly in July SYD-SIN stopover SIN-LHR instead - I suggested she ask LM to just alter their itinerary but this was just last night so don't know if she's done that yet - searching for award seats there is nothing in J SYD-SIN in July but various options on various days for SIN-LHR in July)

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Mentioned in another Covid thread (travel insurance one?) it seems LM are waiving cancellation fees. Seem they just do it, without notification to you.

LM won't alter the itinerary - changing stopovers or routes isn't permitted as part of the change fee structure. Better to just cancel - if they can - and rebook.

 

[jch]

There is a long thread on FlyerTalk in the Avianca forum, experiences are varying a lot but some are getting points refunded without penalty.

There is also difficultly reaching an English speaking representative as the English speaking call center is in a country under lockdown.

I have a United SYD-LAX booking and an Avianca BOG-LAX to get the points back on.

I'm not too keen on paying 2 x USD$200 ~ A$800 to get points back which may not be usable if Avianca isn't around next year...

As both flights are in April and those planes definitely won't be flying, I might start with an email now then try the call center a few days out, hopefully there are more English speakers back by then.

 

[repete]

The promise from an email sent through on behalf of my parents was the cancellation fee would be waived (just not the USD$25 booking fee as expected). Points all seemed to have been returned swiftly.

 

[Lizzi]

Hi all,
Are Lifemiles doing cancellation via email at the moment, or do we still need to get hold of the call centre?

 

[RB]

Hi all,
Are Lifemiles doing cancellation via email at the moment, or do we still need to get hold of the call centre?

I posted on another LifeMiles thread. My underdstanding is that you need to contact the Call Centre (we rang the American number). This was the outcome

Rang Lifemiles this morning as we had a booking on a flight that has been cancelled. The estimate is 15 days for points to be returned and 30 days for the money for the taxes

AND

Further to the above post re cancellation of award ticket, received an email that translates as the following


Your refund request for ticket xx_xx_xx_ has been created in our system with the number xx_xx_xx_X. Our refund team will analyze your request and, if we need additional information, we will send you a new email to request it.

We remind you that the means of payment for authorized refunds is the same as the one used in the purchase of your ticket.

This email is informative, we thank you for not responding.

 

[Lizzi]

I posted on another LifeMiles thread. My underdstanding is that you need to contact the Call Centre (we rang the American number). This was the outcome

Thanks RB I'll gird my loins and give them a call.

 

[Happy Trails]

Hi all,
Are Lifemiles doing cancellation via email at the moment, or do we still need to get hold of the call centre?

I cancelled by email and the miles were returned within a week, no fee.
Quoted 30 days for refund of taxes.

 

[Lizzi]

I cancelled by email and the miles were returned within a week, no fee.
Quoted 30 days for refund of taxes.

Thanks Happy Trails

 

[tallboy]

As a recent data point to assist others:

We had a LM redemption trip with May 2020 departure cancelled by the airlines involved back in April, for obvious reasons.

I wrote an email to LM in May to request a re-credit of the points to my account, waiver of the cancellation fee, and a refund of the fees and taxes, which were minimal.

After a few weeks had slipped by with no response I sent a follow-up email yesterday, and this morning received the following reply from LM Support:

Hello, xx_.
We've escalated your refund fee waive request to our internal department for the respective review of your booking xx_xx_; as soon as we have any update, we'll notify you by this means.
Thank you for your time.
LM Support


A couple of hours later, this email arrived:

Greetings,

We're glad to inform you that the miles redeposit has been completed for the booking in mention; the refunded miles are now available. You can consult your balance under our Activity section (LifeMiles number and password needed).

Let us remind you that Star Alliance redemption fee isn't refundable. Applicable taxes refund will be processed to the same credit card you used to pay the booking and it takes 90 days to complete.

If you have any further concern, do not hesitate to contact us back.

Regards,
LM Support


I am comfortable with that.

 

[pmdg7444]

Nothing like a 5 month wait to get your $ back.....


We apologize for the delay in our response. Regarding your inquiry, we can evaluate a refund fee waive; however, you have to keep in mind the following:

• Time frame to obtain a response is 15 business days.
• Redemption fee isn't refundable ($25 USD).
• Applicable taxes refund will be processed to the same credit card you used to pay the booking and it takes about 5 months to complete once authorized.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Yeah. The first batches of taxes are starting to come back to people now. So the money seems to be there and will come. Thankfully LM are just the actual taxes, no fuel fines.

 

[Lizzi]

Oh that's good. When I cancelled mine they didn't tell me there would be a 5-month wait and I thought the taxes had somehow been eaten up in random other charges. I was just happy to get my points back without the cancellation fee that I didn't pursue it.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

The only thing that won't come back is the $25 service fee. That's never refunded (covid or not).

 

[RB]

I posted on another LifeMiles thread. My underdstanding is that you need to contact the Call Centre (we rang the American number). This was the outcome

Rang Lifemiles this morning as we had a booking on a flight that has been cancelled. The estimate is 15 days for points to be returned and 30 days for the money for the taxes

AND

Further to the above post re cancellation of award ticket, received an email that translates as the following


Your refund request for ticket xx_xx_xx_ has been created in our system with the number xx_xx_xx_X. Our refund team will analyze your request and, if we need additional information, we will send you a new email to request it.

We remind you that the means of payment for authorized refunds is the same as the one used in the purchase of your ticket.

This email is informative, we thank you for not responding.

Finally happened last week