The U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve is an excellent premium travel card with a lucrative sign-up bonus and $325 in annual travel statement credits. It also provides competitive rewards rates for mobile wallet spending and travel purchases. The card is available to existing U.S. Bank customers who have a checking, savings, or mortgage account. It has a relatively high FICO score requirement and is subject to creditworthiness review.
U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve Perks
As the crown jewel of U.S. Bank’s credit card portfolio, the Altitude Reserve is a premium travel rewards credit card with some competitive benefits. Whether or not this card is worth it for you depends on your spending habits and priorities.
The Altitude Reserve earns 3X points on mobile wallet payments made with Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Samsung Pay, which is great if you’re using those apps regularly. You can also redeem your points as statement credits that are applied to travel purchases directly from airlines, hotels, and car rental companies. We value these points at 1.5 cents each, making this a decent way to get more bang for your buck.
In addition, the Altitude Reserve card offers a competitive suite of travel-related benefits, including Priority Pass lounge access for 12 months and a $100 statement credit every four years to reimburse you for Global Entry or TSA Precheck applications. And it has an easy-to-use mobile wallet app that lets you earn 3x points on smartphone payments.
U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve Drawbacks
You’ll find limited redemption options compared to other premium travel cards. For example, you can’t use your rewards to offset restaurant or gas station purchases, and the card requires a minimum redemption amount of $150 for hotel and rental car reservations. In addition, the card’s $400 annual fee might be too much for some cardholders. Fortunately, this card has plenty of other perks to help justify its cost.
The card’s lack of a transfer partner network is one major weak point that makes it less valuable than many competing cards, which offer the ability to send rewards directly to airline and hotel loyalty programs for redemption at a value far greater than 1.5 cents per point/mile.
It’s worth noting that this is one of the few premium travel cards that doesn’t allow you to transfer your rewards to loyalty programs. Most other cards in this category offer this option, which can significantly increase the value of your redemptions. Fortunately, several other ways to redeem your Altitude rewards, such as gift cards and merchandise, can yield up to 1 cent in value per point.