[ARCHIVE to 2015] The Hilton Honors® Surpass(SM) Card from American Express

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Oct 23, 2015, 7:02 pm

#2656

RobertHanson

Join Date: Jul 2013

Posts: 1,784

No Sign Up Bonus For The Surpass?

Neither the wiki here, nor the official AMEX cc page, lists a sign up bonus for the Surpass

Doesn't it have one anymore? And how about the Upgrade 50K bonus from the no AF card? Does that still exist?

As you can probably tell, we are desperately in need of HH point for next Summer in Europe.

Oct 24, 2015, 10:26 am

#2657

Splittin' Aces

Join Date: Nov 2009

Location: MRY

Posts: 430

Here is a link for the upgrade from the no AF card. HT Running with Miles blog. If you aren't eligible for the upgrade, not sure if it'll work for you. You may want to sign in first before using the link so you can check eligibility.

https://www.americanexpress.com/us/c...dit-card/36205

Oct 24, 2015, 10:37 am

#2658

Lurker1999

Join Date: Apr 2006

Location: BOS

Posts: 3,534

American Express currently has an offer for no-fee gift cards. Do these count as "qualified spending" for the $40,000 on this card? Per the terms it excludes prepaid cards. What about Amazon gift cards?

https://www.americanexpress.com/us/c...hilton-surpass

Eligible purchases are purchases for goods and services minus returns and other credits. Eligible purchases do NOT include fees or interest charges, balance transfers, cash advances, purchases of travelers checks, purchases or reloading of prepaid cards, or purchases of other cash equivalents. Standard requirements must be met each calendar year to maintain Diamond status for subsequent periods.

Oct 24, 2015, 3:00 pm

#2659

BrlDsguise

Join Date: Oct 2009

Location: PHL/EWR

Programs: AA, US, WN, HHonors Diamond, Hyatt Plat

Posts: 1,528

Quote:

Originally Posted by david4455

I am thinking of converting my HH Amex Surpass card to the no-fee HH Amex. I have no stays in the coming year where I would benefit from this card and my annual fee is due.

I do however have a stay coming up in a few weeks. If I convert now...is my loss of Gold instantly communicated to HH... or does it take some time?

I've never seen anyone report being immediately downgraded for closing a card that gives them gold status, so you can expect to be gold until at least March 2016. However Amex gives prorated refunds of the annual fee so it only costs $6.25 a month to keep the Surpass card. I would cancel after my January statement closes and hope to keep my status until March 2017.

Oct 24, 2015, 4:23 pm

#2660

kmandrew

Join Date: Apr 2004

Location: Omaha

Programs: AA Life Plat 4mm, Hilton Diamond

Posts: 1,459

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobertHanson

Neither the wiki here, nor the official AMEX cc page, lists a sign up bonus for the Surpass

There is a 60k for 3k/3 month on right now, you can also do a Citi 2 free weekend nights to use for your Europe trip which would be worth probably 100k points. You said "we" so I assume you have a travel companion, both of you could get both cards so maybe 8 nights nearly free - not bad.

Oct 24, 2015, 4:42 pm

#2661

isle-hawg

Join Date: Jan 2010

Location: DCA/RIC

Programs: HH LTD, AA LTG

Posts: 1,015

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobertHanson

Neither the wiki here, nor the official AMEX cc page, lists a sign up bonus for the Surpass

I did a google search and came up with the standard offer of 60K points which is what it was prior to the temp bump to 85K.

https://www262.americanexpress.com/d...-card/hhsc-004

Oct 25, 2015, 3:05 am

#2662

SPLP007

Join Date: Jul 2011

Posts: 775

Quote:

Originally Posted by Splittin' Aces

I used the link, checked when needed to finish spend as i already did $2500 - told by 4 supervisors no bonus attached to my account

Dec 3, 2015, 6:53 pm

#2663

tonywush

Join Date: Jul 2012

Posts: 211

The AMEX surpass offer increased today from 60k to 80k

https://www262.americanexpress.com/d...-card/hhsc-045

Dec 4, 2015, 7:01 am

#2664

kearsarge

Join Date: Sep 2015

Posts: 3

both cards

Can one apply for both the Surpass and no AF card at the same time? Couldn't find anything in this thread indicating one way or the other.

Dec 4, 2015, 11:44 am

#2665

chrisremo

Join Date: Jan 2015

Location: LHR

Programs: AA

Posts: 773

Quote:

Originally Posted by kearsarge

Can one apply for both the Surpass and no AF card at the same time? Couldn't find anything in this thread indicating one way or the other.

In theory, but you may have a lower chance of approval depending on how many Amex cards you already have (you have a limit of four Amex credit cards total) and how many Amex cards, credit or charge, you've been issued recently. They are less likely to approve you if you've had multiple other applications in recent months.

Dec 5, 2015, 10:53 pm

#2666

cab747

Join Date: Aug 2002

Posts: 2,219

Quote:

Originally Posted by kearsarge

Can one apply for both the Surpass and no AF card at the same time? Couldn't find anything in this thread indicating one way or the other.

Yes, I did this in Feb 2015, applied for Surpass first and was immediately approved. Then applied for regular HHonors card and it showed as pending. I did call Amex to advise I purposely applied for both. The second was approved about a week or so later. I still hold both cards, but use the Surpass only because of the higher earn ability.

Dec 21, 2015, 9:48 am

#2667

mcgahat

Join Date: Sep 2003

Location: W29

Programs: It's Complicated...

Posts: 6,811

So, in the past I remember that if one upgraded their no fee Amex Hilton card to the Surpass card the spend on the no fee card would count towards the 40K to hit Diamond. Safe to say that is still the case? I just checked and saw a 50K offer to upgrade after 3K in spend in 3 months so well worth the $75 fee especially with some Hilton stays on the horizon which will net even more points.

One benefit I wish this card had was no foreign transaction fees but must balance that with other benefits of the card I guess.