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USA International Airline Program (IAP) relaunched as discount benefit (2017).

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Old Oct 3, 2018, 11:48 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
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It was suggested that a Wikipost be written to try and collect past and example discounts, as the fares themselves are unpublished.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
Cathay Pacific British Airways / Iberia Singapore Air New Zealand Asiana China Airlines Japan Airlines LATAM Lufthansa Aerolineas Emirates Qatar
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USA International Airline Program (IAP) relaunched as discount benefit (2017).

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Old Aug 18, 2023, 12:01 pm
  #796  
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Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
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Originally Posted by ijgordon
I made a voluntary change to my return leg on an IAP ticket last fall and was expecting the worst. Yes, it seemed like an offshore agent reading from a script, but it was surprisingly not painful. I gave them the new flight information, they confirmed it an even exchange, and sent the ticket for reissue.
I've purchased quite a few IAP fares over the years. I've had one or two easy changes and several absolute nightmares. At this point, I probably wouldn't book one for savings under $1000. Not worth the potential headache.
Originally Posted by Statman
In my experience, if the airline makes the change on their end, they don't have any issues helping you directly even if you booked via an OTA.
You should read this and the several "Amex nightmare" threads.
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Old Aug 22, 2023, 1:46 pm
  #797  
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: TX
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, AA Plat Pro
Posts: 446
Thanks everyone! Across 5 tickets, IAP saved about 8K so worth the risk to us. I did call in a few times to get ticket numbers etc and it was an American based agent that helped. Hopefully we do not have any flight changes!
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Old Sep 21, 2023, 2:50 pm
  #798  
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 3,578
What do these post as on the charge? If you book say, Cathay, does it come up as a charge with Cathay as if you booked through them or does it show on the Amex as some kind of amextravel charge instead?
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Old Sep 21, 2023, 3:16 pm
  #799  
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 4,477
Originally Posted by antonius66
What do these post as on the charge? ...
Amex Travel
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Old Sep 22, 2023, 6:34 am
  #800  
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It’ll show as both on the statement.

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Old Oct 20, 2023, 5:09 pm
  #801  
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Hawai'i Nei
Programs: Au: UA, Marriott, Hilton; GE
Posts: 7,145
Amazing Discount Through IAP!

Just booked my first IAP fare, an all-business-class reservation for Ms747FC and myself on JL,

Travel is: HNL-HKG/SIN-TYO/TYO-HNL (Open jaw between HKG and SIN and one-week stopover in TYO on return).

JL Website price was $11,900 for the two of us. IAP price booked online was $7500 (Rounding last two digits), for a total savings of $4,400, or 37%.

Am I sold on IAP!
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Old Oct 20, 2023, 11:02 pm
  #802  
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: RBKC
Programs: AA EXP and Eurostar Carte Blanche
Posts: 3,850
Well done! I did notice some excellent JL fares from HNL to China a few months ago, but I didn't think to try IAP. Thank you for the reminder 👍
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Old Mar 16, 2024, 9:12 pm
  #803  
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Programs: Miles and Smiles Elite Plus, Hilton Gold, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 474
Booked 2 business class tickets on ANA from the US to asia for this summer and paid 12.5k for both tickets via Amex travel. The same tickets bought through ANA would cost 17k.
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Old Mar 16, 2024, 10:03 pm
  #804  
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Join Date: Feb 2010
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Originally Posted by Lonsinla
Booked 2 business class tickets on ANA from the US to asia for this summer and paid 12.5k for both tickets via Amex travel. The same tickets bought through ANA would cost 17k.
I got weirdly good prices on ANA next month on a multi-city to Asia. $8k for two versus $16k through ANA.

Obviously, I wouldn’t have paid $16k, but QR was the next cheapest around $9,500 that I was about to buy before finding ANA.

Easy $1,500 savings in my book (plus better routing)
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Old Mar 17, 2024, 9:09 am
  #805  
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Programs: Miles and Smiles Elite Plus, Hilton Gold, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 474
Originally Posted by United747
I got weirdly good prices on ANA next month on a multi-city to Asia. $8k for two versus $16k through ANA.

Obviously, I wouldn’t have paid $16k, but QR was the next cheapest around $9,500 that I was about to buy before finding ANA.

Easy $1,500 savings in my book (plus better routing)
8k for 2 tickets is an incredible bargain
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Old Mar 18, 2024, 9:42 pm
  #806  
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Originally Posted by United747
I got weirdly good prices on ANA next month on a multi-city to Asia. $8k for two versus $16k through ANA.

Obviously, I wouldn’t have paid $16k, but QR was the next cheapest around $9,500 that I was about to buy before finding ANA.

Easy $1,500 savings in my book (plus better routing)
Good for you! I’ve found a few similarly good deals on the IAP in recent years. I also once got a fully-refundable fare for the same price as non-refundable on the airline site (Iceland Air).
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Old Mar 19, 2024, 8:46 am
  #807  
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Boston, MA
Programs: AA Million Miler, Mosaic, Delta Platinum
Posts: 1,561
Just yesterday I got much more modest savings on BOS-SEA (hey $100 is $100) and BOS-DUB-LAS (more like $400). I'll take it.
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