Will the new Hilton Surpass -> Ascend be a new product?
 

As above, does anyone know if the new Hilton AMEX cards, specifically the successor to the Surpass, count as new product, and hence everyone will be eligible for the signup bonuses?

Some people who applied for Surpass have received correspondence mentioning Ascend. I think this indicates it is a name change, rather than a new product, but for new account bonus eligibility purposes we will not know until we see the wording of an Ascend offer.

We can only guess now. We will only know for sure once (if) we get some datapoints from people who assumed it would be a new product and apply for an Ascend bonus (if there is one*). And such datapoints won't be possible until the Ascend officially succeeds the Surpass, but which time it will be too late to cancel a Surpass.

* You're assuming there will be a signup bonus for the Ascend. That mey be a reasonable assumption, but lately Amex has been putting out some cards without always having a signup bonus. Plus, keep in mind that the signup bonus on the Citi Reserve, which is much of the inspiration for the Amex Ascend, was a free weekend night certificate, rather than any bonus points. So I don't know that it's safe to assume that the signup bonus on the Ascend (assuming there is one) will definitely be a points bonus.

I received notification on my November HHonors Surpass statement that my annual fee would be increasing to $95 upon my annual account renewal in Feb 2018. Leads one to believe that the Surpass card account will simply be replaced with the Ascend card account and thus no new bonuses for existing Surpass cardholders. (Admittedly, speculation.)

Edit: What the flummox happened to the format of these forums today? It doesn't get much uglier than this.

Speculation seems to be that they'll be treated as the same product. That's why I'm conflicted because the 125k offer that's out right now is pretty good for what it is, but I worry that Amex might have better offers when they launch their own cards so I'm holding off.

But our overlords at Internet Brands keep telling us it's an upgrade! :rolleyes: Please join us in venting at them in the Technical Support sub-forum.

I am going to be one of the guinea pigs here. I plan on canceling my Surpass in mid December and seeing what comes of the Ascend. I am banking that it will be treated as a new product with bonus eligibility. If I am wrong I will only be out a couple months of my annual fee. I will be sure to share what I learn.

My lengthy letter from American Express two days ago stating my surpass card would be replaced with the Ascend card. My AF and CL would stay the same.

new amex Hilton ascend card.
 

The card itself looks pretty neat.

https://imgur.com/a/yqzaE

Hilton is throwing an "exclusive" kickoff party for this card in NYC on 1/30. I received a voicemail today from Hilton inviting me and a guest to the event, which will include food and drinks and a private concert by the Chainsmokers and Charlie Puth. The caller also thanked me for being an HHonors gold member and for my many stays over the years, which is actually very few as my status is through Amex Plat.

I plan on doing the same.

the points guys had a post over the weekend about the new cards and the surpass->ascend will be a product change, not a new product.

You are a bit late to cancel your card in December

I have been told flat out that since I had the surpass I do not qualify for the ascend - I argued about what is (or isn't in this case) in the footnotes and they don't seem to care

By whom? A phone rep? CSRs usually aren't reliable when it comes to the sort of rules and loopholes the Flyertalk crowd navigates through. Frequent Miler had a post surmising that people who had the Surpass and cancelled in time will get the bonus. He reasoned that if Amex intended to prevent those cardholders from getting a bonus on Ascend that the T&C would have (or should have) explicitly referred to prior holders of the Ascend or the Surpass cards. Instead they just reference prior holders of "this product". That vagueness means they can interpret the two cards as either the same product or as different products, but if the average Joe sees a signup bonus offer and applies, he's going to think he's entitled to it, and Amex will be pissing a lot of unsuspecting customers (not FT types) off by telling them they aren't.

When someone who had Surpass actually gets a sign-up bonus for Ascend, that would actually be meaningful information.

Considering how tight AMEX has gotten on bonuses, I would be surprised if people's wishful thinking on this point proves true. IMO AMEX has no intent to bonus prior Ascend card holders, and that seems reasonable to me. It is the same basic product.