I booked a flight using lifemiles on Avianca on December 26, 2024 at 12:40 am EST. Today, still December 26, 2025 at 10:00pm EST, I tried to call and cancel my flight to get a full refund.
I connected to two agents and both told me I am unable to get a full refund. They told me their system of record for the booking was December 25, 10am El Salvador time and therefore I am beyond the 24 hour period and cannot get a full refund. I didn’t even transfer my points from Amex to Avianca until 12:15am 12/26, and tried to tell them their system of records was wrong but they said there’s nothing I can do since I was passed the 24 hour period and I had to pay the cancellation fee.
Has this happened to people before? I thought the DoT requires all airlines to provide free cancellation within 24 hours (flight originates from the USA for March 2025)? What is my best solution here?