There’s a limited time available to still get the Hilton Honors™ Surpass® Card from American Express. As of January 17th, The Surpass card will be going away, replaced by the new Hilton Ascend card.
As far as I’m aware, the best public offer for the Hilton Honors™ Surpass® Card is a signup bonus of 75,000 Hilton Honors points but refer a friend offers are offering 85,000 points after spending $3000 in the first 3 months. My referral code is here – you can leave yours on this post in the Points With a Crew miles and points Facebook group
The signup bonus has gone as high as 100,000 and 125,000 recently, but that is no longer available as far as I could see. Amex has a “once per lifetime” bonus rule, but we’re running out of time to apply for the Surpass card (before it becomes an Ascend)
Hilton Honors™ Surpass® Card benefits
In addition to the signup bonus on the card, the Surpass has the following benefits
- 12x points at Hilton
- 6x points at restaurants, supermarkets and gas stations. This is the highest numeric category bonus at supermarkets, although I would value double American Express Membership Rewards more than 6x Hilton
- 3x points everywhere else
- Complimentary Hilton Gold status (which is the best mid-tier hotel status out there IMO as it gives you free breakfast)
- Hilton Diamond status if you spend $40,000 on the card in a year
- $75 annual fee
Transitioning to the Hilton Ascend card
As of January 18th 2018, Hilton Surpass cards will be transitioned to new Hilton Ascend cards. We’ve covered this transition before, but a few of the highlights
- One Weekend Night Reward at a hotel or resort in the Hilton portfolio after spending $15,000 in purchases on the card in a calendar year
- 10 free Priority Pass Lounge passes to ease the airport experience – this is nice as currently the Surpass comes with a completely useless Priority Pass membership that requires you to pay $29 for each visit (uh no thanks)
- No foreign transaction fees
- $95 annual fee (increased from $75)
It’s still unclear how American Express will handle people that have previously had the Hilton Surpass card – will they still be eligible for receiving a signup bonus on the new Hilton Ascend? What about people who got a signup bonus on the Surpass card but then had their card converted into an Ascend card? I would imagine so, though I’m not 100% sure in either / both cases.
Still, if you want to get a Hilton Surpass card before it goes away, the best publicly available signup bonus that I’ve seen is 85,000 Hilton Honors ponits through the refer a friend offer here.
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
Do you know if I could cancel my current Hilton Surpass now, then I could apply for the new Amex Ascend after Jan 18 and get that bonus??