AMEX new bonus rule with upgrades

Anonymous · ‎03-08-2018

Hi all, just wanted to share for everyone's knowledge. Some of you might already knew but just in case.

I called AMEX Ameriprise this morning to add my wife to my card Platinum, and when the CSR was done, he said i had an offer for my no AF Hilton Honnors card. I got this card last year with an offer, and after going back and forth, he said I will be eligible for the bonus because it is an upgrade (not an application) and because it is on the system specifically for me. I took the offer!

I will get 75k honnor points after spending $2k in three months and the $95 AF will be prorated. This card now has a free annual weekend night after meeting $15k in a year. Very cool!

BY THE WAY - I just saw the following on the AMEX website incognito mode: Earn up to 100,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points Earn 75,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points after you spend $2,000 or more in purchases with your new Card within the first 3 months of Card Membership and an additional 25,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points after you make an additional $1,000 in purchases with your new Card within your first 6 months.†

MrDisco99 · ‎03-08-2018

I'm pretty sure that policy is not new. Amex has been offering bonuses with their upgrades for a while, even for products you may have had in the past.

The optimal strategy is to get the signup bonus on both cards. So for example, with the Hilton cards, get the new account bonus on the NAF and the Ascend cards. Then upgrade the NAF to the Ascend. That way you get two Ascend bonuses. If you do the upgrade first, you become ineligible for the new card bonus.