Originally Posted by
cdoobiest
I have had Hilton regular Amex for years. I have never upgraded or applied for Surpass. Now thinking of finally getting in on Surpass card since I got Diamond match a few months ago. I saw new application for new card is currently 85,000.
I also saw if i upgrade from regular Hilton to surpass, I would get 50,000 miles but wondering if new language once per lifetime rule applies to this.
Should I apply for new card to get 85,000 and burn my once a lifetime app or go for the 50,000, and keep my once in a lifetime Surpass app for later.
Thanks
It's not precisely a once-in-a-lifetime app. Precisely, it's the inability to earn a bonus on a from-scratch application if you've earned a bonus on that card before.
So it's not clear you'll even be able to do a from-scrach Surpass app later, if you do the upgrade now.
But the lifetime limitation does not apply to upgrades, so if you get the Surpass "from scratch" now, then cancel it after a year (when the annual fee for the 2nd year comes due), and then wait perhaps another half year or year, you should be able to do an upgrade of your existing no-AF card to Surpass at that time and get another bonus. (And then a year later, downgrade to the no-AF card, and then sometime later, upgrade to Surpass again.)
So that's why you should apply now for the 85,000, rather than upgrading first.