United Airlines Online Award Booking Engine is Broken for Mexico City Departures

There currently seems to be a glitch on the United Airlines online award booking engine for flights departing out of Mexico City’s Benito Juarez International Airport (MEX). Any online award ticket bookings departing from Mexico City International Airport will have an astronomical amount on the taxes, $480.46 to be exact.

Upon a closer look on the calculation of the taxes, there are 10 Mexico Departure tax calculations of $44.23 each which is clearly an error.

The Workaround

There’s a way to book flights out of Mexico City Airport with the correct amount of taxes and that involves picking up the telephone. I really dislike calling United as many agents are clueless about complex multi city booking and sometimes feeding the flights over the phone will get you nowhere.

I called the Premier Silver line and spoke to a representative who couldn’t help me with a really complex booking that involved 3 multi city segments on three different airlines departing out of Mexico City. However, I did mention why I called in the first place regarding the miscalculated taxes and she transferred me over to Web Support without saying a peep (she didn’t want to deal with me any longer).

I was connected to United Airlines Web Support and told the agent my problems with the online award booking engine with flights departing out of Mexico City. She confirmed that it was an error and that a customer called in earlier asking about it. She informed me that a support ticket has already been escalated, but there was no estimated time or date of when the problem will be fixed. She told me that she could book the award flight for me and that the taxes are calculated correctly on her end.

It’s extremely frustrating since my itinerary is complex and I don’t have the patience to deal with United phone agents. I love United’s award search since everything is laid out neatly and organized, but I will wait until the tax situation is resolved.