Ascend Card Should Work for Perks After Upgrade to Aspire
Earlier in the week we covered a very lucrative upgrade offer that people have been targeted for. American Express is giving Ascend card holders the chance to upgrade to Aspire, the best premium card there is, and snag 150K Hilton Honors points. Well what if you have an upcoming Hilton stay and you won’t get the new card in time? American Express says the Ascend card should work for perks after you upgrade to Aspire while you wait.
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Ascend Card to the Rescue
Our very own Double Duty Daddy had such an instance. He received an upgrade to Aspire offer and has an upcoming Hilton stay this weekend. He would not get the new Aspire card in time to use it for the resort credit or towards the $4,000 in spend. At first he was wondering if American Express could expedite the card but they told him he could just use the Ascend card until the Aspire card arrives.
The American Express rep said that since the account number is the same it should not be a problem. According to their system his card is already an Aspire card even though it is still technically the Ascend card. If he uses it on his trip it should trigger the resort credit perk. That is pretty awesome!
Conclusion
I have always assumed this would work in theory but it is good to have confirmation from American Express that it will actually work. I plan on testing it out myself with the airline incidental and will report back once I give it a try.
Another thing this brings up is what earning rate does the Ascend card currently earn? I would guess it would earn the rates of the Aspire card versus the Ascend card but something else to test.
Let me know in the comments if you already have personal knowledge of this working out in the field. I wish all issuers would give you the same account number and make it this seamless of a transition, looking at you Citi.
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I kind of assume that this is the case for the resort credit and airline credit after chatting with Amex on twitter regarding minimum spend. According to Amex Twitter, the spend on the Ascend card after upgrading to Aspire counts for the minimum spend to get the 150k points. My account doesn’t close until 10/12 and I probably won’t get the card for another week, so can’t really say, but this has been the case with previous upgrade offers with a minimum spend in the past. I would assume the earnings would be based on Aspire earning categories.
I agree – it is what makes the most sense.