The US Bank Altitude Connect card doesn’t get a ton of press, but it can be a valuable card to grab for its new account bonus and potentially for card benefits. However, as first reported by Doctor of Credit, a number of card details are changing substantially on September 9, 2024. Ironically, the value of points earned on the card will decrease, but the value of holding the card may increase for cardholders looking to maximize benefits while avoiding annual fees.
Current offer & key card details
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
50K points ⓘ Non-Affiliate 50K after $2K spend in 120 days$0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $95 Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. FM Mini Review: This card offers decent return on gas station and travel spend and it features no foreign transaction fees. However, return on most other spend is relatively weak. Earning rate: 4X travel and gas stations ✦ 2x take out, food delivery (including apps like GrubHub, UberEATS, etc), dining, grocery (including meal kit delivery) and streaming services Card Info: Visa issued by USB. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Noteworthy perks: $30 credit for annual streaming services ( after 11 months of consecutive streaming service charges, the 12th month will get the $30 credit) ✦ Mobile phone insurance when you pay your bill in full with the card ($25 deductible, up to $600 in coverage) |
Changes coming to the Altitude Connect card as of September 9, 2024
The US Bank Altitude Connect card currently offers a great bonus in comparison to the required spend — there aren’t a lot of opportunities to get $500 in cash back on just $2,000 in spend over 120 days.
The 50,000-point welcome bonus is currently worth $500 since points are worth $0.01 per point at the time of writing, but points will only be worth 0.8c for most redemptions (including for cash back, Real-time mobile rewards, shopping on Amazon, and most other redemptions) starting on September 9, 2024. You’ll still be able to redeem points at a value of 1c per point through the US Bank Travel Portal after that date.
That makes the card’s bonus categories less interesting beginning in September — while an unlimited 4% back on gas and travel has been pretty good on this card, an effective 3.2% cash back on those categories is less compelling. Furthermore, gas at grocery stores and wholesale clubs will be excluded as of September 9th, which will limit the utility further for many.
While the card currently has a $95 annual fee (which is waived for the first year at the time of writing), the card will no longer have an annual fee after September 9th. There is also a current annual bonus for streaming services purchases that will be discontinued.
However, it’s not all bad news necessarily. The card will continue to offer up to $100 in statement credits to reimburse your application fee once every four years for Global Entry or TSA Precheck. That’s a nice deal on a card with no annual fee!
Furthermore, you will continue to get 4 free Priority Pass lounge visits per year. Again, if you’re averse to carrying a card with an annual fee, that’s a pretty solid benefit.
Personally, I don’t much value either the Global Entry / TSA credit or the Priority Pass benefit since I have plenty of other cards that offer those benefits, but I see them being a pair of reasons to have and/or keep this card for someone who only travels to airports with lounges now and then who wants to keep annual fees to an absolute minimum.
It will be interesting to see what happens to the US Bank Altitude Go Card in light of these changes. That card also carries no annual fee and it offers 4x on dining and those points are currently worth $0.01 per point for cash back redemptions. There are some minor changes to that card coming on September 9th as noted on the card landing page, but there is no mention of any change to the annual $15 credit for streaming purchases. It’ll be interesting to see if Altitude Go points continue to be worth $0.01 per point toward cash back and if it keeps the streaming credit.
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Approved early last week, got the card a couple of days ago. It was reasonable to assume that the $500 SUB is going away after 9 Sept, and this card might be good to have if they enable points pooling with the Altitude Reserve in the future, or better yet, go Wells Fargo and become transferable points. That was my play.
Do we know if the biz version of this card is undergoing the same changes? My understanding is you can move points between the two cards.
Wondering the same thing
Wondering the same
Can these points be combined with Altitude reserve?
Nope
No, but it can always change in the future.
The priority pass might be interesting to people without the Sapphire Reserve. Spend one entry on a Sapphire Lounge and the remaining three on PP restaurants.
Do these work for Priority Pass Restaurants? Feels like they should, just curious if anyone has confirmation.
I don’t have the card yet, but I would bet they do. My reason is the card also has a “SmartDelay” benefit which gives you a lounge pass when your flight is delayed. Those lounges are listed at this link and do list restaurants https://loungefinder.loungekey.com/Pass
The benefit is found in the travel section: https://www.myvisacardportal.com/usbank/en_us/altitude/altitudeconnect/offer-detail.html#travel_perks/A856100
I could be wrong, but since you only get 4 entries per year it’s easy for them to limit restaurant abuse.
Is the SmartDelay benefit in addition to the 4 baseline lounge visits?
As far I can tell, yes. You have to register your flight in advance to even get smartdelay so I can’t see it consuming your 4 regular passes.
Any word on the future of the GigSky eSIM benefit? That has been awesome. It’s now offering 5GB free data worldwide every 30 days. Seems unlikely to be extended given the switch to no annual fee. Alas.
Gigsky ends 8/31/24. It’s in a footnote of the current application