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The International Airline Program (IAP) is one of the lesser known benefits of the Amex Platinum Card and offers discounts on premium international cabin flights. In some cases, the savings can be huge and more than justify the annual card fees. In this post, I wanted to cover everything you need to know about the program. What is the Amex International Airline Program?With the Amex International Airline Program you can receive exclusive discounts when booking via American Express with selected airlines. There are a few basic things to keep in mind:
Which airlines qualify for the Amex International Airline Program?The Amex International Airline Program applies to selected itineraries of the following 25+ airlines:
How do I book tickets for the Amex International Airline Program?There are two ways to book a ticket through the Amex International Airline Program – you can either call Amex or book through the Amex Travel website. To book by phone, call Amex Travel at one of the following numbers (note that there is a ticket fee of $ 39 per person for bookings by phone): I prefer to book online as it’s easier to compare options and not have to pick up the phone. To find and book Amex International Airline Program fares, simply go to amextravel.com and then log into the account associated with your Amex Platinum. At this point, find a suitable international itinerary. After you start your search, you will find that some results have “International Airline Program Platinum Card Benefit” at the top and these options are discounted. The original price of the ticket is crossed out and then the “cheaper” price is displayed. For example, if you look at an Air France first class non-stop ticket between New York and Paris, the fare is reduced by around $ 1,000. You’ll also see the option of redeeming Amex points for a cent each for these tickets, although we’ll talk a little more about that below. Of course, it goes without saying that a non-stop, round-trip first class ticket for more than $ 7,000 may not be the cheapest option under the program. There are definitely better deals out there, even if the savings aren’t always that big – the more expensive the ticket, the greater the savings. For example, the program allows you to book a round-trip flight in Virgin Atlantic Business Class from New York to Delhi for $ 2,198, saving around $ 180 off the regular price of $ 2,379. There are many ways to sort the results on the Amex website and you can narrow them down by airline, travel time, number of stops, etc. Combine the Amex International Airline Program & Amex Pay with pointsAs you can see above, the Amex Pay With Points program allows you to pay for an Amex IAP ticket in whole or in part with points (but you must redeem at least 5,000 points). On the surface, both the Amex Personal Platinum Card and the Amex Business Platinum Card offer a value of one cent on the ticket price. That means a $ 2,000 ticket would cost 200,000 Membership Rewards points, which is not very good business. Fortunately, the business version of the card offers a 35% discount on this feature, with a few caveats:
In other words, when you redeem 200,000 Amex points for $ 2,000 worth of travel, you get 70,000 points back. So you’re essentially paying 130,000 points for a $ 2,000 flight worth ~ 1.54 cents per point. Getting 1.54 cents worth per Amex point and saving money on your ticket at the same time is a pretty great combination. Earn 5x points for Amex International Airline Program ticketsAnother great thing about booking through the Amex International Airline Program is that you collect 5x Membership Rewards points when you pay for your ticket with the Amex Personal Platinum Card or Amex Business Platinum Card. This is because both cards offer 5x points on the flight price booked through Amex Travel. I rate these points at 1.7 cents each, which corresponds to a return of 8.5% for these purchases. In addition, both versions of the Amex Platinum offer travel protection in the event of irregular operations, including travel cancellation, delay or interruption. So if you use one of these cards you will not only collect 5x points, but you will also get valuable coverage. Do you earn miles for Amex International Airline Program tickets?Tickets booked through the Amex International Airline Program are entitled to collect miles, regardless of whether you pay in cash or redeem Amex points using the “Pay with Points” function. This is because this is and is considered a fully paid ticket. You can expect to earn miles and receive all of the elite perks as you normally would if you booked directly. The only consideration would be that if you fly an airline with a revenue-based frequent flyer program, you may be earning miles at a slightly different pace than usual. American Airlines, for example, has a special mileage accumulation table for “special tariffs”, which often also includes bookings by third parties. This allows you to earn miles as a percentage of the distance flown, based on your fare class. In some cases this can even be an advantage. What about the Amex Insider tariffs?Since these are discounted Amex flight tariffs, I think the Amex Insider tariffs are also worth mentioning, which in some ways are similar but ultimately different. What are Amex Insider Tariffs?
This is important to be aware of because if you search the Amex website, some may show up as Insider Fares and others as part of the International Airline Program. My strategy with the Amex International Airline ProgramWhat is my strategy for using the Amex International Airline Program? In many cases, airlines are pricing international premium cabins cheaper than ever because they are geared towards private travelers. So even though I have a lot of miles to spend, I often search Google Flights looking for well-paying first and business class fares. Whenever I find a fare to book I always go to Amex Travel and see if there are discounts available through the International Airline Program, and often there are. In this case, booking through the program is a breeze, so I can also earn 5x points when I buy, and even get great travel coverage. For those with the Amex Business Platinum Card, I think it might also make sense to use the Pay With Points feature as in the end, each point could bring in 1.54 cents towards the purchase of a premium cabin fare, which is solid.Bottom lineThe Amex International Airline Program is one of my favorite perks of both the Amex Personal Platinum Card and the Amex Business Platinum Card. If you fly Premium International Cabin any frequency, the savings from the program can be huge, paying your annual fee over and over again.When preparing to book a premium international cabin ticket (even if it’s Premium Economy), I always recommend taking a look at Amex Travel to see what type of fare is on offer. What is your experience with the Amex International Airline Program? Have you used it before
Via https://globalconnekt.com/amex-international-airline-program-iap-guide/
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