Amex Platinum 25K NLL Upgrade Offer - Worth it?

[FloydWonder]

Today I received a very nicely packaged mailer enticing me to upgrade my Gold to a Plat for 25k MR after $2k spend. Offer seems about average for the spend, but what piqued my interest is that I didn’t see the usual “once per lifetime” language in the fine print.

Which leads me to wonder...

I’m a 23 y/o male, employed, and I travel to Costa Rica about 2-3x a year to surf. No hotel needed for these trips, but I do rent a car and use the primary rental insurance perk on my Gold. Domestic flights once or twice a year to see family, and occasionally I book hotels for work (4-5x a year). About half of the time our clients reserve the room for us, so not a guarantee.

My Gold gets 100% of my negligible grocery spend, but for restaurants I’ve been using my Uber card since I don’t have to plan a trip to get a reasonable redemption value.

Usually transfer my points to JetBlue and get between 1.2-1.5c out of them for flights.

This is obviously a much smaller SUB than the 60/75/100k offers seen, but my idea is to downgrade back to Gold or close after a year and then hit the bigger SUB. Can’t see myself keeping this card long-term right now.

The AF is a bit much, but I could probably nail most of the credits with some effort. Also don’t want to put in a bunch of work throughout the year to realize what could be only $100 in gains after fees and such. Improved travel insurance benefits are a nice perk, though.

With all that said - is this offer worth it or am I SUB-chasing up the wrong tree?

[grower1]

---

@FloydWonder wrote:

This is obviously a much smaller SUB than the 60/75/100k offers seen, but my idea is to downgrade back to Gold or close after a year and then hit the bigger SUB. Can’t see myself keeping this card long-term right now.

---

I also received this upgrade offer for 25K and decided to call Amex. They were able to approve more over the phone and offered me a 60k sub to upgrade instead. In the end I declined the offer because I didn't want to upgrade my Gold, but if you are looking for more points, calling in may do the trick. 

[Shadowfactor]

If you've never had the platinum card before, What good does the NLL do for you ?

It doesn't apply to the future, it's an in for those who have had the card in the past. 

If you get the platinum card now, even if you don't get a SUB you're locked out of future bonuses unless you get a NLL offer. 

25K is a terrible offer for platinum, especially since NLL are extremely hard to get. 

25K MR is a good enough reason to get a new account, so would you rob yourself the extra 35K minimum and potentially up to 75K to upgrade. Don't do it just for that reason alone.

Do you have any use for the platinum? It's a pretty niche card now that all the GC tricks are dead. The airline misc fees credit and Uber credits aren't exactly user friendly. Its not a general travel credit like most other cards and can't be used for airfare. 

FYI, the Amex gold charge card doesn't even offer primary rental car insurance unless you pay for it. 

[NRB525]

I wouldn't take it. I didn't take it, when I was getting similar offers to upgrade Gold to Platinum. I did do a Platinum app for a new card, earlier this year, when I got a good Corporate Discount program offer.

There are several factors I see in your comments, why this is not a good deal for you:

1) You aren't sure what your redemption plan would be. Not that you have to know 100%, but with MR and similar systems, it's helpful to have some idea.

2) You don't seem to be staying at the places that give you status on Platinum, Hilton or Marriott? Part of the Platinum AF is for this status.

3) With very few flights, you are not likely to use lounges much, unless there's a lot of work flights. Part of the AF is for this feature.

4) Earning 5 MR on flights is fine, but if it's only a few flights, doesn't add up much more than the 3 MR you get on Gold already.

5) Your Gold card $100 airline fee credit is probably being used for baggage fees? Would you use $200 from the Platinum for these fees?

If anything, take a look at a cold app for the new Green. That would help earn MR from your general travel spend, has dining earnings, and it sounds like grocery spend is not a big factor. The net fee credit for Lounge Buddy may be useful. The MR SUB should be more than 25k MR also.