erdoran

I've been complaining to BA via twitter email for days about the AARP discount not being applied and was pretty much told "get over it"...so I was looking at AARP vs non AARP itinerary pricing and GOING THROUGH THE AARP LINK is now MORE EXPENSIVE than booking a ticket through the BA home page. Take the following itinerary:

British Airways Club World
Outbound EWR to LHR BA0184
10 Jun 2020 18:05 arrives LHR 0615 11-jun
Inbound: LHR to EWR BA0185
1 Jul 2020 10:50 arrives EWR 1340

AARP price total $6009.96
BA main page total $5809.96

This is an itinerary for two adults, without applying the BA visa 10% discount.

I still think there is some sort of computer issue going on. When I first looked at this itinerary on July 25, I could get the identical itinerary, with clearly applied discount for $5424.36, and the fares I selected through AARP say "discount". Now these same lower-cost business fares don't show "discount" even though they are within the T&C's of the AARP offer. BA says "we can discontinue this offer at any time" which would at worst, make the tickets the same price as through the main page.

Anyone else notice this? Any ideas about what to do about it? I'm probably going to end up booking with AA miles (routing PHL-TXL-LHR outbound , with first leg on AA, knocks taxes down to a ridiculous but much more reasonable $2300 total, vs the $3600 for a BA-only itinerary) but I would still like the option to pay for a ticket - but I can't deal with this sort of nonsense. WITH the AARP discount off the BA booking price, my RT drops to $5409, for a $600 savings even before I apply the 10% discount.

Steve in Olympia

Starship73

MADPhil

The UK equivalent is SAGA, though AARP (American Association of Retired Persons originally) may have more marketing.

Globaliser

I understand from a member of this parish that the AARP's joining requirements are, shall we say, less strict than Saga's.

As Starship73 says, the AARP is also a non-profit organisation, but that's getting technical.

MADPhil

I haven't heard of anyone enrolling a child in AARP but it might well be possible. The dues are so low that I suspect that most of their expenses are met by licensing fees and the like. Not that I'm complaining

BMWMOT

Same here. BA/AARP site is not totaling the two segments correctly. Called and agent checked with his support and they said they'll look into it. I'll hold my breath.
Agent also said you can't use the 10% chase discount with the AARP discount. Has anyone had recent success using both?

erdoran

Yes, I can use both AARP and BA visa discount; when I did a test booking both applied. What I discovered is BA is ADDING the AARP discount, not deducting it. I found it NOT applying on my outbound at all other than the $5k tix (vs $1.4k for same itinerary/date); it claimed to be applying on the inbound but the prices were very similar - I think the outbound was a little lower without AARP, the inbound a little higher - but when I got out the calculator the AARP numbers added up to I think $200 LESS than the displayed total! It has the smell of a software bug, someone adds instead of subtracting. If I were to call up and book online or through a TA, chances are they wouldn't allow combining them.

I would have liked to buy my tickets on BA, but I found a decent itinerary using AA miles so I've gone ahead and booked that - I'd waited for 10 days after reporting it to BA (and this site pretty much said "don't push your luck with the BA AARP discount or they might remove it") and nothing changed, and I didn't want to risk losing the AA itinerary. RT PHL-LHR for two, business class, with a total of $600 in taxes more or less, vs the same itinerary on BA for over $3k in taxes & fees, for the same miles - 57.5K/pp each way. Still a lot of miles and $$ but much cheaper than BA cash. IF AARP had worked right it would have cost me $5610-10%=a little over $5k (or $4.8k if they gave the RT discount rather than just the one way) - which is still steep, but vs $3300 in taxes and a boatload of miles worth considering.

golfmad

Worked fine for me a couple of weeks ago so I doubt the agent was correct unless it's been adjusted very recently.

BMWMOT

I was kind of in the same boat. Found good J class pricing on BA, BOS-BUD for ~$2200 with Chase discount. I was hoping to get that to $2k by using both Chase and AARP.
I had the agent on the phone so I just booked it. I have 24 hrs to cancel but it doesn't seem like IT will fix this by then. I was left with see if it gets fixed and use both discounts and hope the pricing doesn't go up or book it.