Upgrade offer from Amex Explorer to Amex Platinum?

[cbreeze]

I currently hold an Amex Explorer and I'm interested it changing over to the Amex Platinum.

I previously received an upgrade for 40k points to move from Essential to Explorer, which I took up.

I am wondering if anyone ever received any upgrade offer to go from Explorer to Platinum?

I called Amex twice and received conflicting information:

• The first agent said: Yes, definitely there are upgrade offers all the time for this scenario (although not right now) and they are often just before Christmas. Ensure you are subscribed to Amex marketing emails. I said errrr are you sure? It's going from a credit card to a charge card and they are different product lines. He says yes sir in my over 5 years at American Express I have seen this exact upgrade offered multiple times.
• The second agent said: No, definitely not. We never do this because a credit card is different to a charge card and the only way would be to apply for a Platinum card online and cancel the Explorer later. We don't do upgrades for this scenario.

I don't know who to believe....
Keen to hear if anyone actually received an upgrade offer from Amex from a credit card to a charge card?

 

[tlspambait]

They do offer upgrade deals, the current one is here: (which isn't very good, i've seen better offers at this URL with lots of bonus points)

The American Express® Platinum Card

Platinum RCP Upgrade Page.

www.americanexpress.com

Unfortunately,(at least when I tried) if you aren't targeted for an upgrade it won't progress with the offer.

As an existing cardmember I didn't get any bonus for moving to the Platinum Card, but I did use my association link which brought down the annual fee. So if you are a member of a professional association maybe check to see if they can get you a lower annual fee.

 

[PointsDude]

I tried earlier in the year to do an upgrade and was told the same thing as what the second agent said. I gave the upgrade link a go and it said not eligible.

Even though there must be scenarios where you can upgrade (as the link demonstrates), I haven’t heard anyone be offered an upgrade in a long time. Completely anecdotal though.

 

[mrdavidtruong]

I previously received an upgrade for 40k points to move from Essential to Explorer, which I took up.

I am wondering if anyone ever received any upgrade offer to go from Explorer to Platinum?

I called Amex twice and received conflicting information:

• The first agent said: Yes, definitely there are upgrade offers all the time for this scenario (although not right now) and they are often just before Christmas. Ensure you are subscribed to Amex marketing emails. I said errrr are you sure? It's going from a credit card to a charge card and they are different product lines. He says yes sir in my over 5 years at American Express I have seen this exact upgrade offered multiple times.
• The second agent said: No, definitely not. We never do this because a credit card is different to a charge card and the only way would be to apply for a Platinum card online and cancel the Explorer later. We don't do upgrades for this scenario.

I don't know who to believe....
Keen to hear if anyone actually received an upgrade offer from Amex from a credit card to a charge card?

I'm also wondering the same; how to 'upgrade' to the personal Platinum.

***
I currently hold the Qantas American Express Ultimate and have previously held the Qantas American Express Premium.

On the business side of things, I hold the American Express Qantas Business Rewards.

Post automatically merged: Oct 8, 2022

They do offer upgrade deals, the current one is here: (which isn't very good, i've seen better offers at this URL with lots of bonus points)

The American Express® Platinum Card

Platinum RCP Upgrade Page.

www.americanexpress.com

Unfortunately,(at least when I tried) if you aren't targeted for an upgrade it won't progress with the offer.

As an existing cardmember I didn't get any bonus for moving to the Platinum Card, but I did use my association link which brought down the annual fee. So if you are a member of a professional association maybe check to see if they can get you a lower annual fee.

This is very interesting! Which card did you hold prior to receiving the bonus invitation to move to Platinum?

 

[Melb FF]

Reading this I’m really annoyed.
I had the AMEX Explorer Card and asked the customer service agent this exact question last week. They were adamant that because one is a credit card and the other is a charge card you couldn’t upgrade. Clearly that information wasn’t true.
I cancelled my explorer card and applied for the Platinum Charge Card. I guess I will see in 5-10 business days what the outcome is.

 

[rb_rishi]

How'd you go? I think if they want to approve an application, they pretty much do it within 24hrs. If it's taking longer than that then give them a call to ask if everything's alright.

I'm almost in the same shoes as you. I have a platinum edge and got declined for a Platinum. I'm considering cancelling edge and reapply for platinum

 

[mrdavidtruong]

Reading this I’m really annoyed.
I had the AMEX Explorer Card and asked the customer service agent this exact question last week. They were adamant that because one is a credit card and the other is a charge card you couldn’t upgrade. Clearly that information wasn’t true.
I cancelled my explorer card and applied for the Platinum Charge Card. I guess I will see in 5-10 business days what the outcome is.

Agreed! It’s pretty annoying that they don’t offer another charge card (like the personal AMEX Gold) as part of their personal portfolio for people to “upgrade” through.

On the good side, I was actually successful in doing the exact same thing – I applied for the AMEX Platinum last Friday (7 Oct), got approved last Saturday (8 Oct), and I received the card on Tuesday (11 Oct)!



•••
Cc: @rb_rishi

 

[wsthong]

Agreed! It’s pretty annoying that they don’t offer another charge card (like the personal AMEX Gold) as part of their personal portfolio for people to “upgrade” through.

On the good side, I was actually successful in doing the exact same thing – I applied for the AMEX Platinum last Friday (7 Oct), got approved last Saturday (8 Oct), and I received the card on Tuesday (11 Oct)!



•••
Cc: @rb_rishi


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AMEX only offer the AMEX Personal Gold when downgrading from Platinum Charge.

 

[rb_rishi]

Agreed! It’s pretty annoying that they don’t offer another charge card (like the personal AMEX Gold) as part of their personal portfolio for people to “upgrade” through.

On the good side, I was actually successful in doing the exact same thing – I applied for the AMEX Platinum last Friday (7 Oct), got approved last Saturday (8 Oct), and I received the card on Tuesday (11 Oct)!



•••
Cc: @rb_rishi


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Now I'm more tempted to cancel my current card and reapply. The only thing that's stopping me is that I'm planning to make a complaint through AFCA. If they decline again, I might not be able to do that. How long did you wait after cancelling explorer before submitting a new application?

 

[SYD]

I keep receiving a 40k bonus pts offers to upgrade my legacy QF AMEX Gold CC to the Ultimate CC.

The extra pts earn (0.7 -> 1.25) is attractive but the lounge benefits not so much. I’ve held off on going from $0 pa to $450 pa due to the sovereign risk to travel during Covid and my ability to extract the included $450 travel benefit but now that things are getting back to normal I might consider it.

Pity it wasn’t something similar on my QF Business CC (I’d jump at that and the tax deduction!).

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Canadian AmEx cardholder here, so not 100% sure if it applies to AU but quite possibly so. I hold two cards with them a Gold charge card and the Marriott Bonvoy credit card. I haven't received any offers with the Bonvoy card but have received offers for the Gold card repeatedly. Most recently I was targeted for a 80,000 bonus point offer after spending $6,000 in first 3 months (Canadian membership rewards are more valuable than AU ones and transfer 1 to 1 to Aeroplan, British Airways, Flying Blue, etc.). These offers generally don't come by email but instead when you sign in to your AmEx account. It will either appear as a pop-up banner when you sign in or a banner at the top of your account page. They don't always appear and certainly you are more likely to receive the offer if you have been a lucrative customer for them (i.e. use the card regularly, pay it off, don't call them up begging for a retention offer).

I'm unsure whether the upgrade offers means that you are approved after accepting the offer but I reckon you would stand a better chance at getting approved.

-RooFlyer88

 

[coconut924]

Agreed! It’s pretty annoying that they don’t offer another charge card (like the personal AMEX Gold) as part of their personal portfolio for people to “upgrade” through.

On the good side, I was actually successful in doing the exact same thing – I applied for the AMEX Platinum last Friday (7 Oct), got approved last Saturday (8 Oct), and I received the card on Tuesday (11 Oct)!



•••
Cc: @rb_rishi


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Did you get the welcome bonus when you successfully apply the platinum card?