We've used it. Yes it does allow to be the lowest bucket of available fare (but if its less than $299 - they'll bump it up to $299). Note that this is without all the taxes and fees (which must be paid for both passengers) as well as a $10 (I think) per person telephone booking fee. So it's not really buy one get one free - but still a nice savings. Both tickets will also earn miles including status qualifying miles as well as upgrade eligibility depending on the airline's rules.

Note however, that this is limited to 4 tickets per card per calendar year (but if you have another card for your spouse, you'll get 4 more tickets). We have two cards.

Also, while the program says that all the "major" carriers participate, they seem to steer business towards American as long as there is a non-stop between the cities.

See https://www143.americanexpress.com/..._a&benefitId=domesticcompairfareprog for complete rules. The one negative that I've found in trying to use this is that the call center handling these requests need to be upgraded - while the reps are courteous, they seem rather clueless as well as take forever to check availability.