What to do w the old Amex “rewards plus” gold?

[marmaladepie]

DH has this card and it’s one of his older ones. The AF of $160 just posted, but bc it has been in the SD in recent years (only use it if an amex offer shows up that we’d take advantage of) we’re not sure what to do with it. Not sure what the earning rate for this card is anymore.

No upgrade offer to the platinum (the benefits would pay for itself to justify $550 fee) ever come avail, ideally this would be the best scenario instead of applying for a new card unless he can get the 100k sub (so far no luck w card match etc). Even the green card has an AF I think.
His daily drivers are the CSR and the Delta Platinum, but he’ll upgrade to the Delta reserve at the end of the year.

Should he just downgrade to the green card and suck up the $95 fee. Or upgrade to platinum without an upgrade offer? Or just leave it be?

Thanks for your tips and suggestions.

[K-in-Boston]

You could contact Amex to find out if there are upgrade offers to Platinum not showing on the website.  It'll never touch a true welcome bonus for new cardholders, but you do get to keep the account age.  I did a product change on mine from Gold to Premier Rewards Gold.  The big difference there is that PRG has a $35 higher annual fee but does come with a $100 airline credit.  Downgrading to green is likely a waste of $95. 

You mentioned he is upgrading to Delta Reserve at the end of the year.  Amex will sometimes offer MQM bonuses for the upgrade from Platinum SkyMiles, so it may be worth considering whether that would help more with Medallion Status if it's credited in 2018 or 2019.

[marmaladepie]

Thanks for your response!
We’ve tried calling to ask about any upgrade offers, about a year ago, and was advised to check the offers page through “my account.” Will try again.
Didn’t realize PRG comes w a $100 airline credit. That might be a good option for the time being.

Just saw thread about Delta charge card. This should be interesting to see how it all plays out.

Thanks for the tip about upgrading SM platinum to reserve suggestion! Do you know if upgrading after a year, you’ll still receive the companion domestic ticket?

[K-in-Boston]

I think the charge cards are old products that never came out. You should receive the Platinum companion certificate on the anniversary, and after a PC it would be the Reserve certificate on the next card anniversary. I’m PCing mine to Reserve, but waiting until January in hopes of getting a little extra MQM push in 2019.

[NRB525]

I suspect if you upgraded the Delta Platinum to Delta Reserve on the DP anniversary, you would reset the clock for any companion cert, meaning a small reward for having to wait another year for the cert anyhow. That ( and no well-timed upgrade offer ) was why I went ahead to app the Reserve at the start of 2018. The problem now is the timing of that anniversary is not ideal, for a ski vacation trip planning. #firstworldproblems