Upgrade Amex Green Card to Amex Platinum

Active duty military servicemembers can upgrade the American Express Green card to another Platinum Card® from American Express and pay no annual fees on multiple Amex Platinum cards.

Read my full Amex Green Card review for military servicemembers.

Upgrading an Amex Green Card to another Platinum is a great strategy if you want to collect a lot of Platinum cards.

After you upgrade your Green card, you can open another Green card to maintain access to the great bonus categories offered by the revamp card. You will not be eligible for another welcome bonus but can still open a new Green card account.

This is a similar upgrade deal to the American Express® Gold Card, which you can upgrade to a Platinum after one year.

With no annual fee for US military personnel, and a few tricks, the Amex Green Card becomes quite powerful for military servicemembers. You can product change (PC) or upgrade this card to an Amex Platinum card after 1 year (details below).

Listen to our podcast episode below for more information on the Amex Green card.

Upgrade Amex Green to a Platinum

The Platinum Card^® from American Express
Learn how to apply on our partner's secure site

• Annual fee of $695* See more details about military protections for you and your spouse 
• Earn 80,000 Membership Rewards^® Points after you spend $8,000 on purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership.
• Earn 5x points on airfare booked directly with airline or on amextravel.com up to $500,000 per calendar year
• Earn 5x points on prepaid hotels at amextravel.com
• $200 Annual Hotel Credit: Get $200 back in statement credits each year on prepaid Fine Hotels + Resorts^® or The Hotel Collection bookings with American Express Travel when you pay with your Platinum Card^®. Note that The Hotel Collection requires a minimum two-night stay.
• $240 Digital Entertainment Credit: Get up to $20 back in statement credits each month when you pay for eligible purchases with the Platinum Card^® at your choice of one or more of the following providers: Disney+, a Disney Bundle, ESPN+, Peacock, Audible, SiriusXM, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal. Enrollment required.
• $200 Uber Cash: Uber VIP status and up to $200 in Uber savings on Uber Eats and rides
• $200 Airline Fee Credit: Up to $200 in statement credits per calendar year in baggage fees and more at 1 qualifying airline
• $189 CLEAR® Plus Credit: Breeze through security with CLEAR® Plus at 45+ airports nationwide and get up to $189 back per calendar year on your membership (subject to auto-renewal) when you use your Platinum Card®.
• $300 Equinox Credit: Get up to $300 back each year on an Equinox+ subscription, or any Equinox club memberships when you pay with your Platinum Card. Enrollment required. Membership subject to auto-renewal.
• $155 Walmart+ Credit: Cover the cost of a $12.95 monthly Walmart+ membership with a statement credit after you pay for Walmart+ each month with your Platinum Card. Cost includes $12.95 plus applicable local sales tax.
• Up to $100 annual Saks Fifth Avenue credit, enrollment required
• Access 40+ Centurion Lounges and 1,200+ Priority Pass airport lounge for free
• No foreign transaction fees
• The Platinum Card^® from American Express – learn how to apply
• Read my full review of the Amex Platinum card for military, terms apply

The best part of the AMEX Green Card for military is one year after you open the account you are eligible to upgrade to the American Express Platinum card. This is true even if you already have another AMEX Platinum.

As long as you keep the Green card on a separate login for your AMEX online account, you should be offered the upgrade link online. Even if you added the Green to your current login on AMEX, you can drop the card from your login and create a new AMEX login to manage the card.

This is an easy process and does not affect your account management or status with American Express in the least.

As long as the new AMEX online account you created does not have another Platinum card attached to it, you should be able to upgrade your Green card with a link.

This is an awesome way to add more AMEX Platinum cards to your inventory. Since military servicemembers pay no annual fees on AMEX cards, you can stack all the benefits on the AMEX Platinum.

Upgrading to Amex Platinum for Military

Let's say you and your spouse both have a “vanilla” (regular) Amex Platinum, an Amex Gold Card you upgraded to Platinum, and an upgraded Amex Green to Platinum. That's six Amex Platinum cards with no annual fees, saving you $4170 in annual fees.

You'll also get all the welcome bonuses for these six cards as you build your Platinum Portfolio, which could be worth 300,000+ MR points.

But wait, there's more. Since each Platinum card comes with it's own benefits, every year you'll get:

• $1200 in Uber credits (6 x $200), also valid on Uber Eats
• $1200 in airline fee credits (6 x $200)
• $600 in statement credit at Saks Fifth Avenue (6 x $100)
• Free Priority Pass access to airport lounges and Centurion Lounges
• 2 Free Global Entry membership ($200 value)
• Free Hilton Honors and SPG Gold Status

This is free money you're leaving on the table by not building your Platinum card collection as a military member. Start building your collection today with the American Express Green Card and pick up the easy welcome bonus now. Then, after a year upgrade the card to a Platinum and reap the Platinum benefits.

Amex Green Card Membership Rewards Points

Amex Membership Rewards are one of two of the most flexible credit card reward systems. Along with Chase Ultimate Rewards points, Membership Rewards allows the most valuable transfers to airline and hotel partners.

This flexibility allows you to book awesome business and first class tickets on great airlines. For instance, I booked a round trip flight including stops in Dubai, New Zealand, and Australia for New Year's and Christmas this year.

You can also use the points for Amazon purchases, booking travel through AMEX's portal, and buying gift cards. Usually though, you should save your points up for a transfer to a travel partner for the most valuable redemptions. MR points are frequently valued at 1.5-2.5 cents per point or 100 points = $1.50-2.50.

Check out my Amex Green card review to see the latest bonus points offered. Opening a Green card is am easy way to pick up some extra MR points on the way to building your Platinum collection.

Head over here to apply for an Amex Green card.

If you have upgraded your AmexGreen card to a Platinum, let me know in the comments!