Oct 3, 2018, 11:48 pm
Last edit by: 747FC
In June 2017, the American Express International Airline Program changed to a discount program, rather than "buy one get one free".
https://www.americanexpress.com/us/t...ram/index.html
To research and book, you can
1) Call Platinum Travel Services (1-800-525-3355) or Business Platinum Travel Services (1-800-553-9497). $39 booking and change fees apply
2) As of October 18, 2018, customers can use Live Chat to receive quotes. Log into your account at www.americanexpress.com/travel
3) As of May 2019, customers can log into www.amextravel.com and search and book some IAP fares. Not all carriers participate in online bookings, and not all fares appear online. (Relevant FlyerTalk thread 1 Relevant Thread 2)
The program is available on International First, Business and Premium Economy Class tickets booked through American Express Travel, on both refundable and non-refundable fares.
Good for purchases of 1 to 8 tickets on participating airlines.
Use Pay with Points for all or part of you fares, plus you still get miles from the airline.
Subject to $39 servicing fee per ticket for Platinum card members when calling.
"Travel must originate in and return to U.S. gateway (may exclude certain overseas territories) and select Canadian gateways. One-way travel permitted on some airlines where routing originates in U.S. or select Canadian Gateways." Known to include YVR, YYZ.
It was suggested that a Wikipost be written to try and collect past and example discounts, as the fares themselves are unpublished. The discounts vary, sometimes widely, based on availability, fares, and sales. I've broken it down into ranges, and sorted by the number of reports. I also combined AF/KL/DL as they have joint ventures TATL so it's hard to say from all posts which metal members were reporting. My calculations for discount ranges do not intentionally include the $39 booking fee.
Delta / Air France / KLM
https://www.americanexpress.com/us/t...ram/index.html
To research and book, you can
1) Call Platinum Travel Services (1-800-525-3355) or Business Platinum Travel Services (1-800-553-9497). $39 booking and change fees apply
2) As of October 18, 2018, customers can use Live Chat to receive quotes. Log into your account at www.americanexpress.com/travel
3) As of May 2019, customers can log into www.amextravel.com and search and book some IAP fares. Not all carriers participate in online bookings, and not all fares appear online. (Relevant FlyerTalk thread 1 Relevant Thread 2)
The program is available on International First, Business and Premium Economy Class tickets booked through American Express Travel, on both refundable and non-refundable fares.
Good for purchases of 1 to 8 tickets on participating airlines.
Use Pay with Points for all or part of you fares, plus you still get miles from the airline.
Subject to $39 servicing fee per ticket for Platinum card members when calling.
"Travel must originate in and return to U.S. gateway (may exclude certain overseas territories) and select Canadian gateways. One-way travel permitted on some airlines where routing originates in U.S. or select Canadian Gateways." Known to include YVR, YYZ.
It was suggested that a Wikipost be written to try and collect past and example discounts, as the fares themselves are unpublished. The discounts vary, sometimes widely, based on availability, fares, and sales. I've broken it down into ranges, and sorted by the number of reports. I also combined AF/KL/DL as they have joint ventures TATL so it's hard to say from all posts which metal members were reporting. My calculations for discount ranges do not intentionally include the $39 booking fee.
Delta / Air France / KLM
- Fares < 10 %: 2
- Fares 10%-15.9%: 16
- https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/28427217-post5.html
- (First) https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/28455196-post22.html
- https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/28552399-post75.html
- https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/28557136-post80.html
- https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/28681679-post119.html
- (First) https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/28912654-post150.html
- (PE) https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/29314333-post216.html
- https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/29314692-post217.html
- https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/29321044-post230.html
- https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/29485431-post250.html
- https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/30218019-post300.html
- https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/30337457-post316.html
- https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/30647796-post331.html
- (First) https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/31053636-post394.html
- https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/31089400-post399.html
- https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/32079945-post586.html
- Fares 16%-20.9%: 5
- Fares 21%+: 3
- Fares < 10%: 1
- Fares 10%-15.9%: 6
- https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/28581934-post91.html
- (PE) https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/28658835-post109.html
- (First) https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/28844429-post141.html
- (PE) https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/29315142-post218.html
- (PE) https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/29836516-post265.html
- (PE) https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/28758330-post129.html
- Fares 16%-20.9%: 1
- Fares < 10%: 4
- Fares 16%-20.9%: 1
- Fares 21%+: 1
- Note: Prices include seat selection per this thread
- Fares <= 10%: 4
- Fares 16%-20.9%: 1
- Fares 10%-15.9%: 1
- Fares 16%-20.9%: 1
- Fares <= 10%: 1
- Fares 10%-15.9%: 1
- Fares >= 35%: 1
- Fares 21%+: 2
- Fares < 10%: 1
- Fares 10%-15.9%: 1
- Fares 16%-20.9%: 1
- Fares 10%-15.9%: 1
USA International Airline Program (IAP) relaunched as discount benefit (2017).
Jul 26, 2018, 4:29 am
#286
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: AUS
Programs: BAEC Gold, AA PPro, Hyatt Globalist, Amex Plat
Posts: 7,043
Regards
Jul 26, 2018, 12:38 pm
#287
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: NYC
Posts: 27,239
I would probably call that a win too, just haven't experienced myself yet. Although, once you include the booking fee it's not a discount that gets me super excited and would cause me to pull the trigger if I was on the fence. Again, if you are for sure going on the trip then some discount is certainly better than none. But the program so far isn't causing me to generate incremental spend that I might not have otherwise done.
Regards
Regards
And the boatload of SkyPesos (and MQM’s I’ll earn). The IAP discount was gravy. I actually booked with AF direct before it even occurred to me to try IAP. But I was able to cancel the AF ticket (<24h) and book with Amex.I agree that I would never think of the IAP program as the *reason* to take a particular trip, but it certainly can be a reason to maintain the Plat card (among other ways of making up the annual fee).
Jul 26, 2018, 12:55 pm
#288
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: VA
Programs: AA EXP, DL Gold, Hilton Lifetime Diamond, Wyndham Diamond, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 293
When you're calling , are you giving them exact itineraries to quote, or are you letting them do the searching?
I called over a year ago and had them search, and it took them almost an hour... way too much time to be on the phone at 11pm.
I called over a year ago and had them search, and it took them almost an hour... way too much time to be on the phone at 11pm.
Jul 26, 2018, 12:59 pm
#289
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minneapolis: DL DM charter 2.3MM
Programs: A3*Gold, SPG Plat, HyattDiamond, MarriottPP, LHW exAccess, ICI, Raffles Amb, NW PE MM, TWA Gold MM
Posts: 100,417
Recently I had a DL TATL RT in D1 and the International Airline Program saved me about 20%, which was very nice on an expensive ticket. I booked with PTS by phone (easy as the agent seemed to know just what to do)and it appeared immediately in My Trips on delta.dumb. I got the five times membership rewards points and full MQMs/MQDs/RDMs from DL posted right on time. The PTS agent told me that it was a private fare and definitely not a bulk or consolidator fare.
I tried again for another trip where I had already found a quite good fare and the AmEx fare would have been higher. I questioned this and was told that for DL, the program includes discounts for all of the D1 classes (Z I D C and J) but only A P and F for domestic FC connecting flights, so maybe this was the problem in my example. This seemed to be some sort of a sale from DL as it was about a thousand dollars lower than when I had checked the same flights a week or so earlier. At the time, it needed to be ticketed within about a week according to the fare rules (and a normal number of days in advance for the Z fare) and availability went down pretty quickly, including for the good connections. It wasn't so special as to be mileage run or premium fare deals FT subforum territory.
I tried again for another trip where I had already found a quite good fare and the AmEx fare would have been higher. I questioned this and was told that for DL, the program includes discounts for all of the D1 classes (Z I D C and J) but only A P and F for domestic FC connecting flights, so maybe this was the problem in my example. This seemed to be some sort of a sale from DL as it was about a thousand dollars lower than when I had checked the same flights a week or so earlier. At the time, it needed to be ticketed within about a week according to the fare rules (and a normal number of days in advance for the Z fare) and availability went down pretty quickly, including for the good connections. It wasn't so special as to be mileage run or premium fare deals FT subforum territory.
Jul 26, 2018, 1:37 pm
#290
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: ATL
Programs: DL Scattered Smothered Covered Medallion, Some hotel & car stuff, Kroger Plus Card
Posts: 10,745
Recently I had a DL TATL RT in D1 and the International Airline Program saved me about 20%, which was very nice on an expensive ticket. I booked with PTS by phone (easy as the agent seemed to know just what to do)and it appeared immediately in My Trips on delta.dumb. I got the five times membership rewards points and full MQMs/MQDs/RDMs from DL posted right on time. The PTS agent told me that it was a private fare and definitely not a bulk or consolidator fare.
I tried again for another trip where I had already found a quite good fare and the AmEx fare would have been higher. I questioned this and was told that for DL, the program includes discounts for all of the D1 classes (Z I D C and J) but only A P and F for domestic FC connecting flights, so maybe this was the problem in my example. This seemed to be some sort of a sale from DL as it was about a thousand dollars lower than when I had checked the same flights a week or so earlier. At the time, it needed to be ticketed within about a week according to the fare rules (and a normal number of days in advance for the Z fare) and availability went down pretty quickly, including for the good connections. It wasn't so special as to be mileage run or premium fare deals FT subforum territory.
I tried again for another trip where I had already found a quite good fare and the AmEx fare would have been higher. I questioned this and was told that for DL, the program includes discounts for all of the D1 classes (Z I D C and J) but only A P and F for domestic FC connecting flights, so maybe this was the problem in my example. This seemed to be some sort of a sale from DL as it was about a thousand dollars lower than when I had checked the same flights a week or so earlier. At the time, it needed to be ticketed within about a week according to the fare rules (and a normal number of days in advance for the Z fare) and availability went down pretty quickly, including for the good connections. It wasn't so special as to be mileage run or premium fare deals FT subforum territory.
Jul 26, 2018, 1:57 pm
#291
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: PHX, SEA
Programs: Avis President's Club, Global Entry, Hilton/Marriott Gold. No more DL/AA status.
Posts: 4,422
Does IAP still do the 2-for-1 full fare tickets or is it now just variable discounts on single tickets?
I understand that 50% off full-fare as noted a few posts back is functionally 2-for-1, but I may have to take a last minute TATL and 2-for-1 would work better for my expense report.
I understand that 50% off full-fare as noted a few posts back is functionally 2-for-1, but I may have to take a last minute TATL and 2-for-1 would work better for my expense report.
When I call, I have an itinerary in mind. I've also usually done a Matrix/Google search ahead of time. I've only ever booked once with them and was glad for the savings and it paid for my AF for a few years.
Jul 26, 2018, 5:41 pm
#292
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 600
Telling the agent that you want J class for LAX-LHR for fall travel is not going to be an efficient or productive use of your time or the agent's.
Jul 26, 2018, 5:48 pm
#293
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: AUS
Programs: BAEC Gold, AA PPro, Hyatt Globalist, Amex Plat
Posts: 7,043
In my experience, it's best to get the exact dates with flights numbers from Google flights, ITA, etc. and give that information to the agent and instruct them that you want to purchase this flight through the IAP program.
Telling the agent that you want J class for LAX-LHR for fall travel is not going to be an efficient or productive use of your time or the agent's.
Telling the agent that you want J class for LAX-LHR for fall travel is not going to be an efficient or productive use of your time or the agent's.
Regards
Jul 29, 2018, 2:15 pm
#294
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AS 75K; UA 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott LTP; Hilton Diamond (Aspire)
Posts: 56,470
Was able to get a $3618 J ticket SFO-SIN on SQ for $3267, i.e., a 10% discount. This is a great fare to begin with,* so delighted at the extra $351 savings
ETA: Despite booking this through Platinum travel services, AMEX inexplicably charged the ticket to my Premier Rewards Gold card, potentially costing me over 6500 MR points (3x vs. 5x). Took over 30 minutes on the phone to get this straightened out. They had to reissue the ticket.
*Note that this fare expires today if anyone's interested in purchasing it.
ETA: Despite booking this through Platinum travel services, AMEX inexplicably charged the ticket to my Premier Rewards Gold card, potentially costing me over 6500 MR points (3x vs. 5x). Took over 30 minutes on the phone to get this straightened out. They had to reissue the ticket.
*Note that this fare expires today if anyone's interested in purchasing it.
Last edited by Kacee; Jul 29, 2018 at 10:11 pm
Aug 10, 2018, 7:37 pm
#296
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: MSP
Programs: Free Agent
Posts: 147
Just booked two RT NYC-FRA on Singapore in biz with the IAP.
Fare showed $2,412 each on Google & Amex Travel.
Through IAP booked at $2,225.21 including the fee.
Savings of $186.79 each.
Not life changing; but ill take it.
However; possibly more interesting. I had started searching out of ORD. Flights for Delta-KLM-AF were about 9k and they were quoting 6.5k. so significant savings.
I told her I was just looking for a deal. She offered that across the Atlantic; they usually have the best access to discount fares on delta and partners.
Wonder if it was accurate and if the amex-delta tie up is in effect here. They are featured prominently on amex travel on the left under airlines to sort by.
On my third call in i pulled the trigger on the above Singapore itinerary. This agent knew the lingo and booking was swift. She mentioned that they act as personal travel agents and encouraged me to call in and quote every flight- as she said- quotes are free. Then she gave me her direct extension which seems interesting. So takeaway is; if you find a good agent- ask for their extension number.
Fare showed $2,412 each on Google & Amex Travel.
Through IAP booked at $2,225.21 including the fee.
Savings of $186.79 each.
Not life changing; but ill take it.
However; possibly more interesting. I had started searching out of ORD. Flights for Delta-KLM-AF were about 9k and they were quoting 6.5k. so significant savings.
I told her I was just looking for a deal. She offered that across the Atlantic; they usually have the best access to discount fares on delta and partners.
Wonder if it was accurate and if the amex-delta tie up is in effect here. They are featured prominently on amex travel on the left under airlines to sort by.
On my third call in i pulled the trigger on the above Singapore itinerary. This agent knew the lingo and booking was swift. She mentioned that they act as personal travel agents and encouraged me to call in and quote every flight- as she said- quotes are free. Then she gave me her direct extension which seems interesting. So takeaway is; if you find a good agent- ask for their extension number.
Aug 11, 2018, 12:01 am
#297
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AS 75K; UA 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott LTP; Hilton Diamond (Aspire)
Posts: 56,470
This is in the fine print, but thought I'd mention here anyway because it came as a surprise to me: IAP only offers a discount for flights originating in the US (or "select" Canada gateways). So no joy for me on a BKK originating itinerary.
Sep 14, 2018, 10:22 am
#298
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 600
Just a tip for those wanting to price IAP fares. Call the American Express Platinum Travel Services phone number (800-443-7672) rather than the general American Express travel phone number.
In my experience, the agents at Platinum Travel Services are much better than the regular agents.
In my experience, the agents at Platinum Travel Services are much better than the regular agents.
Sep 14, 2018, 4:16 pm
#299
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: PHX, SEA
Programs: Avis President's Club, Global Entry, Hilton/Marriott Gold. No more DL/AA status.
Posts: 4,422
Just a tip for those wanting to price IAP fares. Call the American Express Platinum Travel Services phone number (800-443-7672) rather than the general American Express travel phone number.
In my experience, the agents at Platinum Travel Services are much better than the regular agents.
In my experience, the agents at Platinum Travel Services are much better than the regular agents.
I don't know if it carried forward, but prior to the new program all flights must be on the same operating carrier and this limits options for open jaws. When I was doing open jaw into SYD and home from SIN (cruising between) not many options existed. I went with JL, but Amex couldn't put me on an AA-operated, JL-marketed flight.