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[2020.2 update] Previously, there was a double-upgrade offer for 60,000, but I didn’t jump on it. Now the offer has been downgraded to 25,000/$2,000... If you get a good offer, you should take it right away — what a painful lesson!

  • It still shows “Special offer for you,” but the bonus has changed to 25,000 with $2,000 spend in three months
  • Not sure whether Platinum upgrade offers will all become like this in the future. If so, that would be big news...

[2020.1 update] The last time both cards (Green and Gold) received upgrade offers at the same time was in December. The offer disappeared in early January, and today it showed up again. The offer appears in the online banking interface under “Cards” — “View All Cards.” I suspect the trigger conditions are:

  • Holding Green or Gold for about a year, or close to a year (required condition)
  • Relatively high recent spending on related MR credit cards (suspected condition)

I didn’t use my card for a while, so the offer disappeared. Recently, because of Amazon MR 20% off (up to $50), I put a lot of spending through it, and the offer came back. This is just a guess.

[2019.12] AMEX seems to have pushed another round of Platinum credit card upgrade bonuses recently. When I checked “All credit cards” in my online account, it showed “Special offer for you,” as follows:

After clicking in, I found that my AMEX Gold, for which I had just paid the annual fee (and already received a retention offer), and my AMEX Green, whose annual fee is due next month, were both targeted (shown in the same screen, as below). You could consider using two browsers to upgrade both at once. The only regret is that I still don’t have the standard AMEX Platinum card. Otherwise, being able to double-upgrade in December would have been pretty strong. By the way, I just opened the Schwab version of Platinum in December. To avoid wasting the standard Platinum card lifetime offer, I’m not upgrading this time. Readers in a similar situation should check now and upgrade if eligible — upgrading now can still get you three reimbursements.

This also tells us that December is the best time to apply for the AMEX Gold and AMEX Green credit cards (currently at an all-time-high 45,000 + $150 reimbursement). Feel free to use our links to apply for the cards above:

https://www.uscreditcards101.com/how-to-get-amex-airline-credit-reimbursement/