This is the literal meaning to the terms as written, but there is a trickle of anecdotal evidence that American Express is measuring from the application date.
That isn't the literal meaning I get from the T&Cs
Welcome bonus offer not available to applicants who have had this product within the last 12 months
Literally means if you applied for & received a surpass card in the last 12 months, you are SOL. It doesn't refer to closing your account IMHO
or any other Consumer Hilton HHonors™ Card from American Express® account within the last 90 days.
So in my case, I applied in Jan 2012 for the standard 50k card. That means that I would have to wait until Jan 2013 to re-apply, but since I got the surpass card this month, I would have to wait until Feb to be past the 90 day zone just in case.
Nothing about closing accounts. Then again, I haven't dealt with AMEX too much, so I might be in the wrong.
FWIW I got instant approval for the surpass