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US Bank’s Real-Time Mobile Rewards offer a way to book travel outside of US Bank’s limited travel portal and still get 1.5 cents per point value from your points. Unfortunately, the details about what works where are sketchy. For example, the terms state that real time mobile rewards work only with US merchants, but there are examples of airlines that it works with that includes several foreign airlines.
FAQ – US Bank Real Time Mobile Rewards
- Q: Which credit cards do Real-Time Mobile Rewards work with and offer 1.5 cents value towards travel?
A: US Bank Altitude Reserve card. - Q: How do I activate Real-Time Mobile Rewards?
A: After logging into your US Bank account, browse here: rewards.usbank.com/altmidprem/en_us/home/card-benefits.html - Q: What happens if I redeem rewards for a purchase and the purchase is later canceled or the actual charges end up being lower than the amount redeemed for?
A: You will receive a statement credit. For example, if you redeem 20,000 points for a $300 flight via Real-Time Mobile Rewards, and you cancel that flight purchase, the $300 will be applied to your account balance. You will not get the 20,000 points back. - Q: Which types of travel purchases are officially supported by Real-Time Mobile Rewards?
A: US Bank lets users enable purchases withing the following categories, and offers examples, as follows:- Lodging: Four Seasons, Hyatt, Starwood, Hilton, Disney Resorts, Best Western, Westin, Wyndham, etc.
- Airline: American Airlines, Sun Country Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, United Airlines, Frontier Airlines, etc.
- Car Rental: Hertz, Budget, Alamo, Avis, National, Enterprise.
- Other Travel: Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd., Amtrak, Lyft, Inc., Royal Caribbean International, Uber Technologies Inc., etc.
- Q: What are the minimum purchase amounts necessary to trigger Real-Time Mobile Rewards?
A: With most categories, the minimum is set by the user’s preferences to as low as $10. The Hotels category has a fixed minimum of $150 and the Car Rental category has a fixed minimum of $150. - Q: Do you have to have enough points for an entire charge in order to redeem?A: Yes, you need to have enough points to cover the total amount of a purchase in order to redeem points towards for it. Partial redemptions are not allowed.
- Q: What does US Bank mean by “Other Travel”?
A: We don’t know. We hope that this post will help figure that out. - Q: What else do I need to know?
- A: You can only respond to the most recent Real-time Mobile Rewards text, so if you’re booking more than one travel component at a time, be sure to redeem before making your next purchase. Once you have a new real-time mobile rewards text, it is impossible to go back and redeem against an earlier purchase for 1.5c per point.
US Bank Real-Time Mobile Rewards. What works where?
Please comment below with your findings and we’ll update this chart with any meaningful new data. Thanks!
Airline Charges
- Aegean: FAIL
- AeroMexico booked via Expedia: SUCCESS
- Aer Lingus seat assignment: FAIL
- Aeroplan award ticket fees: FAIL
- Aeroplan lap infant fee: FAIL
- Air Europa ticket: FAIL
- Air Europa purchased through Orbitz: SUCCESS
- Air France ticket purchased on AirFrance.us website (flights within Europe only – MAD-CDG-OTP): SUCCESS
- Air France award fees for Delta flight (US to Canada): SUCCESS
- Air New Zealand ticket: FAIL, but see also SUCCESS via Expedia
- Air Tahiti Nui: SUCCESS
- Alaska Airlines: SUCCESS
- Alaska Airlines ticket for multiple passengers: PARTIAL SUCCESS (Each passenger charge separate, only works for one)
- Alaska Airlines buy miles: FAIL
- Alitalia ticket purchased through alitalia.com: SUCCESS
- Allegiant Air: SUCCESS
- American Airlines purchase at airport: FAIL
- American Airlines online purchase of upgrade while in Dominican Republic: FAIL
- American Airlines $50 e-gift card: SUCCESS
- American Airlines $149 e-gift card: SUCCESS
- American Airlines award fee: SUCCESS
- American Airlines award fees via phone: SUCCESS
- ANA: FAIL
- Asiana award fees: SUCCESS
- Asiana ticket: SUCCESS
- Avelo: FAIL
- Avianca Lifemiles award fees: SUCCESS
- Avianca Lifemiles buy miles: SUCCESS
- Avianca ticket purchase: SUCCESS
- British Airways award fees: SUCCESS
- British Airways ticket booked with ExploreTrip: FAIL
- Booking.com for Lufthansa ticket within Europe: FAIL
- Cathay Pacific award fees booked with Asia miles via phone: FAIL
- Cathay Pacific award fees booked with Asia miles online: SUCCESS
- Cathay Pacific extra bag fee: FAIL
- China Airlines: FAIL
- Delta e-gift card purchased via desktop browser: SUCCESS (and again), but more recent FAIL
- Delta ticket purchased through Expedia: SUCCESS
- Delta ticket purchased directly: SUCCESS
- Delta award fee ($11.20): SUCCESS
- Delta fare difference Korea to US flight: SUCCESS
- Delta ticket from China to US purchased at delta.com: FAIL
- Easyjet: FAIL
- Emirates online seat selection fee: SUCCESS
- EVA Airways seat selection fee: SUCCESS
- Etihad award fees: SUCCESS
- Flair Airlines: FAIL
- French Bee: Flight from US to Europe SUCCESS
- Gotogate.com for flight in Europe: FAIL
- Iberia award fees from US to Spain: SUCCESS
- Iceland Air checked bag fees: FAIL
- ITA Airways within Europe: FAIL
- JetBlue Award Fee: SUCCESS
- JetBlue Vacations: FAIL
- KLM round-trip from US: SUCCESS
- Korean Air award fees: SUCCESS
- LATAM booked direct: SUCCESS
- LATAM via trip.com: FAIL
- Level Airlines at flylevel.com: FAIL
- LOT Airlines: FAIL
- Lufthansa flights within Europe: FAIL
- Lufthansa change fee processed in NY: SUCCESS
- Hawaiian Airlines inter-island flight tickets: SUCCESS
- Maya Air tickets purchased directly: SUCCESS
- Norwegian Air: SUCCESS
- Primera Air ticket purchased directly: FAIL
- Porter Airlines (Canada to US): SUCCESS
- Qatar Airways cancellation fees: SUCCESS, but see also an award fee FAIL
- SAS Airlines ticket purchased directly: SUCCESS
- Southwest Airlines ticket purchase: SUCCESS
- Southwest Airlines gift card: SUCCESS
- Southwest Airlines award fees: SUCCESS
- Spirit Airlines ticket and $9 fare club: SUCCESS
- TAP Portugal booked via Orbitz: SUCCESS
- Turkish Airlines award taxes & fees: SUCCESS
- United award fees: SUCCESS
- United Award Europe to US: FAIL
- United baggage fees (via United app): SUCCESS
- United flight booked through Orbitz: SUCCESS
- United flight booked at United.com: SUCCESS
- United award fees: SUCCESS
- United TravelBank: SUCCESS
- Uzbekistan Airways ticket: FAIL
- Vietnam Airlines ticket: FAIL
- Virgin Atlantic seat upgrade: SUCCESS
- Virgin Atlantic Award Fee (flight originating in US): SUCCESS
- Virgin Atlantic ticket for flight departing from UK: FAIL
- Vueling ticket purchased directly: FAIL
- Vueling ticket purchased through Orbitz: FAIL
- Wizzair: FAIL
- Yeti Airlines (Nepal): FAIL
Hotel & Lodging
- Airbnb: FAIL
- Agoda $150.37 hotel transaction: FAIL
- Airbnb: FAIL, FAIL, FAIL
- AVANI hotel in Africa. FAIL
- Booking.com: SUCCESS for a UAE hotel, but see also this more recent FAIL for a US hotel and FAIL for a hotel in Tokyo.
- Campgrounds and RV Parks: FAIL
- Gosplitty.com SUCCESS
- EZ-Pass (Virginia): FAIL
- Fairmont hotel in Canada: FAIL
- Hotel booked through Hotels.com: FAIL
- Hyatt in Jordan: FAIL
- Loews reservation deposit: SUCCESS
- Sheraton in US: SUCCESS with initial hold charge
- VRBO: FAIL, but then a more recent SUCCESS
- West Virginia State Parks: SUCCESS
Car Rental
- Avis pay-now rental in France booked on U.S. website: SUCCESS
- Enterprise: SUCCESS
- Hertz in Canada: FAIL
- Hertz in US: SUCCESS
- Turo: FAIL
- Vipcars.com: FAIL
Car Services
- Autoslash “Pay now with Autoslash”: SUCCESS (note that we’ve had this work abroad)
- Lyft: SUCCESS
- Lyft Cash loaded in app: SUCCESS
- Taxi: SUCCESS
- Uber (within US): SUCCESS
- Uber (in Canada): FAIL
- Uber (in Europe): FAIL
- Uber Cash purchased in Uber app: SUCCESS
Cruises
- Carnival Cruise: SUCCESS
- Carnival Cruise gift card bought from Carnival: SUCCESS
- Celebrity Cruises online payment: SUCCESS
- Disney Cruise Line online payment: SUCCESS
- Holland America over the phone: SUCCESS
- Holland America gratuities / onboard purchases: SUCCESS
- MSC Cruise: SUCCESS
- Norwegian Cruise: SUCCESS (see also SUCCESS for gratuities / on-board purchases)
- Princess for gratuities/on-board purchases: SUCCESS
- Royal Caribbean, both over the phone and onboard: SUCCESS
- Virgin Voyages for onboard purchases: SUCCESS
Other Travel
- Amtrak: SUCCESS
- Daily Getaways: FAIL
- Deutsche Bahn train ticket (Germany): FAIL
- Eurostar train tickets: FAIL
- FasTrak: FAIL
- Iryo train ticket in Spain: FAIL
- London Northwestern Railway: FAIL
- New Jersey Transit Purchases ticket purchase: FAIL (only received 1 cent per point)
- OBB train ticket (Austria): FAIL
- Toronto Public Transit: FAIL
- Wine Train in Napa Valley FAIL
- Reserve America: FAIL
- Swiss Travel Pass (train tickets): FAIL
- Viator: FAIL
- Washington DC Metro: FAIL
Other
- Buy retail gift card via United MileageX App: FAIL
- Uber Eats: FAIL (it used to work. workaround is to pay for Uber Cash in the Uber app)
- Uber Gift Card via Fluz: SUCCESS
- Tour payment for G Adventures: FAIL
- TripAdvisor activity: FAIL
Real-Time Mobile Rewards Terms & Conditions
The following terms were found here (must be logged in to access): https://rtr.myrewardsaccess.com/Offers/OfferSummary. Click “Terms and Conditions” then click “Program Rules” near the bottom of the Terms & Conditions page.
Real-Time Rewards
With Real-Time Rewards, you may instantly redeem Points for your credit card Purchases via text messaging. The Points redemption comes in the form of a credit to your monthly billing statement. Points will be deducted from your Points balance and a credit for the Purchase amount will be applied to your Account billing statement when you request redemption. For transactions which include a gratuity, fees, or estimated taxes, the statement credit may not equal your final Purchase amount. Auto bill pay transactions will be part of Real-Time Rewards text messages if the Purchase falls within your preference selections. Real-Time Rewards text messages are available only for transactions with U.S. merchants. You may sign up for Real-Time Rewards using your 10-digit U.S. mobile number. Only one mobile number may be used per credit card account. After you complete a brief enrollment profile, you need to confirm your enrollment within 24 hours by replying ‘YES’ to a confirmation message that Real-Time Rewards will send you. If any changes are made to your Account that will affect the card number, account ownership or your rewards program, you will need to re-enroll in Real-Time Rewards. Message and data rates may apply. The short code REDEEM (733336) is used by Real-Time Rewards to send redemption requests. Message frequency is based upon the preferences you select and the Purchases you make on your Account. Text ‘HELP’ to REDEEM (733336) for Help. Text ‘STOP’ to REDEEM (733336) to cancel your participation in Real-Time Rewards. All cancellations completed via text message will remove that mobile number from all accounts registered for Real-Time Rewards. Please visit rtr.myrewardsaccess.com for a full listing of the Mobile Terms and Conditions. For inquiries, to sign up to receive text alerts, to update your preferences or to cancel your enrollment, please visit the Rewards Center online or call the Rewards Center.
You will not receive Real-Time Rewards text messages until you confirm your enrollment and preferences. You will receive a Real-Time Rewards request text message if your credit card Purchase falls within the criteria you have set up in your Real-Time Rewards preferences. Merchants who accept Visa cards are assigned a merchant code based on the kinds of products and services they sell. U.S. Bank does not control how Purchases are processed by merchants or the merchant codes they use; therefore, U.S. Bank cannot guarantee that a specific transaction will qualify. Your Account must remain in good standing in order to redeem. You may redeem by replying ‘REDEEM’ within 24 hours of when the message was sent. You may only redeem the most recent Real-Time Rewards text message. Upon confirmation of a redemption request, Points will be deducted from your Points balance immediately, and a credit to your statement will be processed within three business days and will appear on your next billing statement. The Account statement credit for a Real-Time Rewards redemption will reduce the Account balance, but will not count toward the minimum payment due. All redemptions are final. If you return the item or service that you redeemed Points for to the merchant, the Points will not be reinstated, but you may receive a monetary credit to your credit card account (in accordance with the merchant’s return policy).
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Booked LKN-OSL-HEL (mixed carrier, ticketed by Finnair) on Expedia – confirmed it triggered RTR. Charged in USD.
So for USBAR’s “real time rewards” feature to work, I understand you need enough points to cover the entire cost of a travel expense (i.e. a flight, hotel, etc.), right? But then how does the 1.5x part work? If a United Airlines flight cost $500 USD cash, do you need 50k points in your account to cover it (assuming 1 USBAR point = 1 CPP), or do you only need 33,333 pts from your account’s point balance in the first place for the “real time reward” to be eligible?
Can confirm LATAM Airlines gives RTR. Despite the fact that the Travel Rewards Center offers car rentals for a company called Localiza, RTR rewards does not work if you rent a car via Localiza directly. BTW, this is in Brazil.
Great wolf lodge deposit triggered RTR
I dunno if this’ll help anyone else but a SANSA (Costa Rica regional airline) flight did not trigger a RTR text notification. It did, however, count toward the $325 annual travel credit!
I appreciate this article, and want to add a method that I use that makes this whole thing simpler. (This method is mentioned in the FAQ above, but I wanted to highlight it since it’s so easy to do).
I simply book a ticket on United that requires slightly fewer points than I have in my US Bank account (if your purchase exceeds the number of points available, it won’t work). For example, if I have 20,000 points in my account, a purchase of just under $300 should work.
This purchase immediately triggers a text to redeem RTR. Once redeemed, I cancel the United ticket, which doesn’t affect the RTR redemption. Takes less than five minutes.
Just to note, some other USB cards also use RTR, albeit not at 1.5 cpp. I believe triple cash, I think some others? I’m not a heavy USB user, but did notice that recently.
Although I considered getting this card and am tempted to apply in case it get s discontinued, I dont see how it would fit with my capital one venture x , amex and chase cards. Seems like I would be diluting my points acquisition and at the same time underutilizing this card.
The area the Altitude Reserve excels in above other cards is rental car redemptions. It has the same Primary rental car coverage as the Venture X but will earn 3X on the transaction coding it as travel, and will allow you to redeem your points at 1.5cpp to cover the rental car charge (you still earn the 3X – USB doesn’t take away the earnings on purchases points are redeemed for). For a triple dip if you haven’t used your $325 annual travel & dining credit up yet that credit will also automatically apply to the rental car charge, letting you redeem both points and the credit on the same purchase. And all of this can be booked with autoslash or directly with the rental car company so you still earn in whatever awards program they have (and can take advantage of rental car elite status, which the AR gives for National and Avis).
Other cards like Venture X, Ritz, and CSR have comparable Primary rental car coverage but weaker redemptions on rental car charges (Venture X would purchase erase at only 1cpp, Ritz has no options, CSR requires booking through the portal to redeem). And I don’t believe any will let you stack earning on the purchase, redeeming points, and redeeming a travel credit all on one charge. AMEX Platinum doesn’t give Primary rental car coverage.
Cruise purchases are the other niche travel area it has been useful for. 3X on direct purchases with cruise lines, again with all the same ability to stack points and travel credit redemptions as with rental cars. I had a couple of card-linked offers for Carnival last year as well that saved an additional 20%, effectively a quad-stack on the purchase.
If you’re not going to make many rental car or cruise purchases? Then yeah it’s harder to justify if you already have Venture X. You need $5000 a year in mobile wallet purchases to cover the effective $75 annual fee compared to Venture X being net free. Since Venture X earns at 2X everywhere, mobile wallet is only getting you 1X more at 1.5cpp value. CSR can already earn 3X on travel, AMEX Gold and Platinum earn 3X or 5X on airfare, and most of the cobranded hotel and airline cards are going to be better for that specific brand. You can argue big spend towards a Hilton FNC or similar is a better return than mobile wallet on AR as well. As I’ve gotten more cards I’ve found myself using the AR less often.
In the days before the Venture X I think it was the most cost effective ultra-premium card on the market and a better card for general spend than CSR or any AMEX offering. Venture X gives it a lot of competition and preference would be based on whether you make good use of transfer partners or prefer booking travel without restrictions (though the US travel only aspect for US Bank is a limitation). USB has card-linked offers similar to Chase and BoA which makes me reach for the AR more often than the Venture X, as there are often times to stack the 3X travel or mobile wallet earnings with a 10% – 20% off card-linked offer.
Thanks for the detailed response !
Choice hotels worked for me.
I don’t want to add more noise to the data, but a few months ago, I noticed that my real-time rewards had seemed to stop working. That is, charges that I expected to trigger real-time rewards were not doing so (I didn’t realize that redemptions were inconsistent). The U.S. Bank web site showed that I was enrolled. Customer support couldn’t find the problem, but they awarded me a handful of points as an apology.
I later found the issue: my real-time rewards settings in the mobile app showed that I wasn’t enrolled. I can only assume that US Bank had rolled out an updated mobile app that used it’s own settings, and my previous configurations were not copied over properly (either a design oversight or an error during a data migration).
I will omit my failures, because I can’t tell if they are genuine or a result of funky settings. As for my successful data points:
Thank you for such a helpful post Aaron!
Do you guys have any information about the US Bank altitude reserve closing applications this week or next? Seems to Coincide with the release of the Smartly card. Would love any information you guys may have including rumors
No, we don’t have any info unfortunately