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Top-tier travel credit cards come with some pretty significant benefits, including lounge access, elite status, statement credits, and complimentary travel insurance. However, American Express does its competitors one better by offering the Amex International Airline Program (IAP), which provides discounts on airfare booked in premium cabins.
Let's take a look at the American Express International Airline Program, the airlines that participate, and whether it's worth using.
Page Contents
What Is the Amex International Airline Program?
The International Airline Program is a benefit that Amex offers to eligible Platinum cardholders flying on a participating airline and departing from the U.S. It can provide a discount on paid premium economy, business, or first-class tickets with 26 participating airlines, including:
- Aer Lingus
- Aeromexico
- Air China
- Air Europa
- Air France
- Air New Zealand
- ANA
- Asiana
- Austrian Airlines
- Brussels Airlines
- Cathay Pacific
- China Airlines
- Delta Air Lines
- Emirates
- Etihad
- Finnair
- Japan Airlines
- KLM
- LATAM
- Lufthansa Group
- Qantas Airways
- Qatar Airways
- Royal Air Maroc
- Singapore Airlines
- SWISS
- Virgin Atlantic
Discounts can apply to refundable, restricted, and non-refundable fare types. It's important to note that the language on Amex's site says the International Airline Program can provide discounts of up to 20%. However, as you'll see later, your actual discount can be significantly higher.
How To Book a Flight Using the International Airline Program
To book a flight using the IAP, you'll need to be a cardholder of an eligible Platinum card. This includes The Platinum Card® from American Express and The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, and you can book up to eight passengers on a reservation using the Amex International Airline Program discounts.
First, you'll want to log in to your account. Once logged in, select the Travel dropdown from the toolbar at the top of the screen. You'll see a section noting Book International Airline Program.
After you've navigated to the search page, input your flight information, including your dates and class of travel. Then, hit the search button.
Amex Travel will populate results, though not all of these are eligible for the International Airline Program. These will be denoted by a banner noting which ones are from the Amex International Airline Program.
If you'd like to filter exclusively for International Airline Program-eligible flights, the checkbox on the right-hand side will allow you to do so.
After selecting the flight you'd like, you'll go through the checkout process. Be aware that you'll need to pay with an American Express card to book with Amex Travel, including the International Airline Program.
Related: Complete Guide to the American Express Travel Portal
Is the American Express International Airline Program Worth It?
Sure, in theory, it's great that you'll be able to save up to 20% on your flights, but is that how it really works? In short: It depends. It always behooves you to double-check pricing on other sites, because Amex Travel doesn't always give the best rates. This is true for flights with and without using the International Airline Program discount.
However, there are some cases where it can save you a ton of money. Here's an example where the Amex International Airline Program ended up saving more than 75% on a ticket.
This is a multi-city ticket from Los Angeles (LAX) to Santiago (SCL) and then from Santiago (SCL) to Bogota (BOG). Results from Google Flights peg this routing at $4,521 per person in business.
However, LATAM is a participant in the International Airline Program, and a quick check on Amex Travel shows the same ticket available for just $1,008 total.
We probably shouldn't attribute the huge difference in pricing solely to the International Airline Program, but there's no denying that it's incredibly helpful here.
Maximizing Points With the Amex International Airline Program
The Amex International Airline Program is applicable to paid tickets, which means you're generally not able to redeem points for booking. The exception to this is if you'd like to redeem American Express Membership Rewards for your ticket.
We don't generally recommend this method since Amex only offers 1 cent per point when redeeming in this way. That's far below recent AwardWallet user redemptions, which peg the average value of an Amex point at 1.96¢ each.
However, if you have the Business Platinum Card, you can take advantage of the 35% rebate offered when redeeming Amex points on eligible flights (up to a million points back per year). This benefit applies to a preferred airline you select in advance (flights in any cabin) or flights in business and first class with any airline. Enrollment is required for select Amex benefits.
For example, if you'd like to redeem points for that multi-city ticket above, it'd cost you 100,820 points up front. You'd then receive 35,287 points back for a total out-of-pocket cost of 65,533 points.
This gives you a value of 1.54 cents per point. While this isn't the best value for your Amex points, it's still pretty solid. This is especially true considering that these tickets are considered paid airfare, even when redeeming Amex points. This means you'll earn bonus miles and elite status credit, unlike standard award flights. If you're trying to earn elite status with an airline, this can be an especially good way to keep your out-of-pocket costs low while still getting that elite status credit.
However, you should always shop around. While you may pay fewer points with the Amex International Airline Program when you consider using points like cash, award redemptions might tell a different story. Can you transfer your Amex points to an airline and make a redemption for the same flights using fewer points? Ensure you consider your options before rushing off to use this benefit.
Bottom Line
The Amex International Airline Program is a benefit offered to eligible Platinum cardholders providing discounts on premium cabin flights. While it doesn't always offer the best price around, there are situations where taking advantage of this perk can be incredibly helpful. This, plus the ability to redeem your Amex points towards your flight, makes it worth considering whenever booking paid premium cabin tickets.
Have you ever booked a flight with the Amex International Airline Program? Tell us about your experience in the comments.
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
