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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It was suggested that a Wikipost be written to try and collect past and example discounts, as the fares themselves are unpublished.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 Jun 23, 2017, 1:55 pm
  #46  
Hilton Contributor BadgeMarriott Contributor Badge
 
Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: WAS
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Posts: 1,757
Originally Posted by SFO777
Not all airlines are participating apparently. I tried a few different itineraries last night with an agent and UA, LH, LX and AC are supposedly not part of the program.
It would appear limited to airlines currently listed on the website, not airlines which participated in the previous iteration of the program.

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Old Jun 23, 2017, 11:01 pm
  #47  
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Programs: UA 1K, SPG Platinum, Hyatt Diamond, Hilton Platinum, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 568
Shame UA and LX are not taking part. That said, I have been wanting to build up secondary status on Flying Blue and so UA's loss may be AFs gain.
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Old Jun 24, 2017, 8:34 am
  #48  
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Join Date: Aug 2005
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Originally Posted by LeviFlight
Shame UA and LX are not taking part. That said, I have been wanting to build up secondary status on Flying Blue and so UA's loss may be AFs gain.
any experience calling about LX? Sounds like there are other airlines that somehow participate w/o being listed.
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Old Jun 24, 2017, 12:01 pm
  #49  
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
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I could not get the agent to just quote me prices. She kept adding commentary about the itinerary even though I told her I was just doing a price comparison. It was hard to get off the phone with her. She just kept talking. It took 15 minutes to price 2 itineraries. And worse, it was for the same price I found online.
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Old Jun 24, 2017, 12:25 pm
  #50  
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Join Date: Nov 2007
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Originally Posted by smitty06
I could not get the agent to just quote me prices. She kept adding commentary about the itinerary even though I told her I was just doing a price comparison. It was hard to get off the phone with her. She just kept talking. It took 15 minutes to price 2 itineraries. And worse, it was for the same price I found online.
I hear you. Seems like Amex has hired a new batch of agents, who of whom are inexperienced and totally clueless.
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Old Jun 24, 2017, 1:18 pm
  #51  
mia
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Join Date: Jun 2003
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Posts: 48,954
Originally Posted by SFO777
I hear you. Seems like Amex has hired a new batch of agents,...
-OR- this is an outsourced benefit. The chatty ones might say who they work for.
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Old Jun 24, 2017, 2:26 pm
  #52  
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Bellevue, WA - AA EXP 3MM
Posts: 2,756
Called Amex to get a sense. Was offered a JL fare at the exact same price available through OTAs -- pointless to waste time with the Amex rep and pay a booking fee for that. Was then offered a QR fare at about $500 (~12%) below the published fare. That is a nice benefit and potentially quite attractive.

Wish these could be at least quoted online, if not booked online. Crazy to spend time by phone discussing option by option -- waste of my time and the agent's time, and so much less flexible than me seeing the options on screen for myself.
bedelman is offline  
Old Jun 24, 2017, 7:58 pm
  #53  
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
Programs: Coffee Shop Buy 10 Get 1 Free
Posts: 295
Originally Posted by mia
-OR- this is an outsourced benefit. The chatty ones might say who they work for.
Guy called me back from 604 area code- Phoenix, if that helps? Was wondering same thing if it was just outsourced to someone who had no clue how to use the system
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Old Jun 24, 2017, 9:49 pm
  #54  
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Posts: 153
When I booked with IAB, I called Platinum travel. The agent helped me. They did not know I wanted IAB until we started talking. If special agents are used for IAB, are other people getting transferred after speaking with the normal AMEX Travel agent? I wasn't. I thought.the agent was good.
nyc2cal is offline  
Old Jun 24, 2017, 10:54 pm
  #55  
 
Join Date: Feb 2000
Posts: 6,545
Originally Posted by nyc2cal
When I booked with IAB, I called Platinum travel. The agent helped me. They did not know I wanted IAB until we started talking. If special agents are used for IAB, are other people getting transferred after speaking with the normal AMEX Travel agent? I wasn't. I thought.the agent was good.
IAP
Colin is offline  
Old Jun 24, 2017, 11:48 pm
  #56  
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Originally Posted by DG206
Guy called me back from 604 area code- Phoenix, if that helps? Was wondering same thing if it was just outsourced to someone who had no clue how to use the system
British Columbia
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Old Jun 26, 2017, 9:02 am
  #57  
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
Programs: Coffee Shop Buy 10 Get 1 Free
Posts: 295
Originally Posted by josephstern
British Columbia
*602, my bad
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Old Jun 27, 2017, 9:53 pm
  #58  
 
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Seattle
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Originally Posted by DG206
Guy called me back from 604 area code- Phoenix, if that helps? Was wondering same thing if it was just outsourced to someone who had no clue how to use the system
Arizona is a one-party consent state (for recording phone conversations) so many companies have call centers based there.
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Old Jul 4, 2017, 10:18 pm
  #59  
 
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Any experience on how American fares are pricing? I see they aren't on the list of airlines on the website.

And I suppose no one has had any experience on the elusive AA fare referenced in earlier posts.
C17PSGR is offline  
Old Jul 5, 2017, 12:51 am
  #60  
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Join Date: Nov 2007
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Posts: 21,600
Originally Posted by C17PSGR
Any experience on how American fares are pricing? I see they aren't on the list of airlines on the website. And I suppose no one has had any experience on the elusive AA fare referenced in earlier posts.
It was likely a BA fare with an AA codeshare.
SFO777 is offline  


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