BrlDsguise

I have an upcoming stay at the Tropicana. They require a one night deposit which was charged to my card and immediately credited back against the resort credit.

Dbears

I have the ascend card which is a conversion from the CITI card. I have decided I would rather have the aspire card for the diamond upgrade, free night and the statement credits for resorts and airline fees. Should I call them and ask for an upgrade? Or, should I apply for a new card and get the 100K sign on bonus and cancel the ascend to avoid the fee?

George M

Apply for a new card. If you upgrade, you won't get the 100K bonus.

Personally, I plan to keep both cards. With the Ascend, you get more points for purchasing gas and groceries. So, by using my Ascend on the everyday purchases, I can hit the $15K spend for the free night.

I'll use the Aspire exclusively for Hilton purchases once I hit the minimum spend. But, the free night and statement credits make it worthwhile, even before you factor in the perks of being a Diamond.

The perks of the Aspire card stand on their own merit, for me, so I plan using both. That's my 2¢ anyways.

paradox

I upgraded from no-fee Hilton Amex to Surpass in November 2017, with 100K points after $3K spend within 3 months. I spent $3K in January 2018 (waited until January so that the $3K would count towards the 2018 calendar year) and have received the 100K pts. Since then the Surpass became Ascend.

If I spend another $12K on Ascend for the free weekend night, then upgraded to Aspire, would I get a second free weekend night upon upgrading? I'm undecided on whether to upgrade to Aspire or apply for Aspire and downgrade Ascend to the no-fee card after hitting the $15K spend. I would not get the 100K pts with an upgrade, but only by applying, correct?

jediwho

Just used most of my $250 credit at the Conrad in Koh Samui which is classified as a Hilton Resort property.

mnredfox

paradox

That's the route I'll probably take as well. I can put the other $12K spend to better use elsewhere.

However, a CSR said that I would receive a free weekend night only upon 1) annual renewal or 2) $60K spending. I thought there is also a free night with account opening. Am I mistaken, or is this another case of CSR roulette?

FlyerTalker7654

It would appear that what Amex is saying is different to what is published on their website when taking out the card. Have a look at this thread in the Amex section LINK

Can anyone who has taken out the card confirm if they have received the code for the free night?

paradox

Thanks, SgtRyan. I've taken a screenshot of the relevant terms. Hope I won't need to use this, but it seems like a prudent precaution until 8-14 weeks have passed since applications opened and someone (hopefully) receives the code.

jediwho

My wife got her certificate number and I am waiting for mine. She was charged her AF about four weeks ago less than two weeks after getting the card.

Dovster

1. AMEX sent me an Ascend card to replace my Surpass card. It also opened a Priority Pass account for me.

2. The Ascend card did not arrive. I notified Amex and they sent me a replacement card. Apparently, they notified PP to cancel my account as a security measure.

3. Priority Pass sent me a card which expires in four years. When I looked at my PP account on its website, it tells me that my card expired on Feb 3.

4. I called PP, they told me that Amex had canceled it and I had to call Amex.

5. I called Amex and they told me I had to call a special number at PP.

6. I called that number and PP told me that I had to call Amex and have a conference call with both Amex and PP.

7. I called Amex, again, and they were unable to set up the conference call. They said that when they get things straightened out they will send me a message on their website (they are unable to send me an email).

BTW, my (adult) son and daughter will be flying to Bulgaria for a few days and I wanted them to be able to use my PP for lounge entry. PP informed me that is impossible if I am not with them.

jamesteroh

I thought Am Ex required you to enroll on their site for PP. If you log into your American express site and select that card and click on benefits it should give you a link to enroll for the Priority pass card. I would try that. I hate dealing with PP customer service.

All priority passes require the card holder to be present, it's like an airport lounge membership, you can't give the card to another person or transfer the membership. As crowded as the lounges are that is a good thing. Alaska will turn people away a lot at the board rooms if they are PP holders due to the crowds, I can't imagine what it would be like if PP holders could give out their card to family and friends who are flying.

Dovster

I did try that. In fact, the second Amex rep suspected that this might have been the reason Amex canceled it (I had already been enrolled, she said).

Dovster

Probably not too bad as I am limited to 10 free entries -- which would mean 5 r/ts per year. If my son and daughter used my PP card for r/ts, I would have been left with 6. I believe that PP gets paid by Amex for each entry, so I can't figure out why they care who uses it.

(Actually, in my case, I fly in Biz so I get free entry with PP. However, I might want to guest in people who are flying with me.)

jamesteroh

Problem is the lounges are turning away people in some cases. In fact it has gotten so bad with so many people having Priority Pass that Escape in MSP is no longer accepting PP. It could also be a restriction with Am Ex and the other credit card holders, I'm sure they don't want to be paying for swipes for non cardholders. If I want to access the Alaska Lounge for example, it's unfair for me as a PP member to be turned away because they are at capacity from others using a card that isn't there. Delta doesn't allow me to give me skyclub card out to anyone else to access their club when I'm not flying and when Northwest was around I wasn't able to give out my worldclub card to anyone else to use. I think it's pretty standard with any lounge benefit.

If you are flying in business with companions who are in coach and the lounge accepts PP, you can just use the PP pass to access the lounge and guests the others in. Most business class tickets will allow the flyer to guest in one or two members anyway. Only problem with using PP is if the lounge is at capacity and they aren't accepting Priority pass holders and only accepting club members/business-first flyers (I witnessed it a few times at the Alaska boardroom where they were only admitting boardroom members and first class flyers and last time I flew out of Lima was when a lot of US flights were leaving and they were limiting access to business class flyers and denying prioirty pass at the lounge Delta uses but they were telling PP holders of another lounge in the terminal they could use, just wasn't as nice).