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U.S. Bank is a credit card issuer that’s often overlooked in favor of bigger-name banks like Chase or American Express. However, U.S. Bank does have some credit cards that should be on your radar. Depending on your spending habits, going with a U.S. Bank card might actually be your best option.

The U.S. Bank Altitude® Reserve Visa Infinite® Card, for example, is an amazing option for those who frequently use mobile wallet apps to make everyday purchases. This card also offers some great travel perks that can easily make up for this card’s high annual fee of $400. 

However, if you don’t use mobile wallet payments or don’t travel often, then the U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve card may not be the best option for you. You should also compare this card to other premium travel cards on the market, like the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card and the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, before you sign up.

5X points on prepaid hotels and car rentals booked directly in the Altitude Rewards Center - U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve Visa Infinite Card Spending Bonuses

There’s a lot to like about the U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve Card, including 5X points on prepaid hotels and rental cars booked through the Altitude Rewards Center, 3X points on eligible travel purchases and mobile wallet spending, and 1X point on everything else. Additionally, this card also comes with a valuable welcome bonus and $325 in annual travel and dining credits that can help you offset the $400 annual fee.

Still, despite all of these lucrative benefits, the U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve Card isn’t ready to play with the big kids yet. The benefits that it offers just don’t stack up to premium travel cards offered by more well-known banks in the same price range. Still, let’s take a look at all that this card has to offer. It still might be a good option for you.

ProsCons
Good spending bonusesRequires excellent credit
No foreign transaction feesNo transfer partners
Valuable welcome bonus$400 annual fee
$325 in statement credits annually toward travel and diningHigh ongoing APR
$100 in statement credits towards TSA PreCheck® or Global Entry®
Airport lounge access
U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve Visa Infinite Card - $325 Annual Travel and Dining Credit

U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve Visa Infinite Card Spending Bonuses

First and foremost, the U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve Visa Infinite Card offers rewards in the form of points, which can be redeemed for cash back, for travel through the U.S. Bank Altitude Rewards Center, for gift cards and much more. 

We’ll discuss the different ways to use these points in more depth later, but let’s first take a look at how many points you can earn with the Altitude Reserve Card: 

  • 5X points on prepaid hotels and car rentals booked directly in the Altitude Rewards Center
  • 3X points on eligible travel purchases and mobile wallet spending (including Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay) 
  • 1X point on all other purchases

The ability to earn 5X points on prepaid hotels and rental cars through the Altitude Rewards Center sounds pretty good, but it doesn’t stack up against the competition. The Chase Sapphire Reserve and the Capital One Venture X cards both offer 10X points on hotels and rental cars through their respective travel portals. 

The two competitor cards also offer 5X points on flights booked through their travel portals whereas the Altitude Reserve card offers no such bonus for booking flights through the Altitude Rewards Center. 

flights booked through Altitude Rewards Center

Where the U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve card shines, though, is in the ability to earn 3X points on mobile wallet payments. In this day and age, you can use mobile wallet apps to pay for nearly anything. So, if you can make sure to use your mobile wallet app (either Apple Pay, Google Pay or Samsung Pay) whenever you can, you can essentially earn a baseline of 3X points on all of your purchases. 

If you don’t use mobile wallet apps and aren’t willing to start, then the Altitude Reserve card probably isn’t the best option for you. 

The ability to earn 1X point on all purchases is also fairly unimpressive considering that the Capital One Venture X Card (which has a lower annual fee than the U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve card) offers a baseline of 2X miles on all purchases. 

U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve Visa Infinite Card Benefits

Seeing as the U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve Card is a premium travel card with a $400 annual fee, it’s no surprise that it comes with some amazing travel benefits. And if you take advantage of all of these benefits, you can easily offset this card’s annual fee. 

$325 Annual Travel and Dining Credit

Probably the most valuable benefit that comes with the Altitude Reserve Card is the annual $325 statement credit toward eligible travel and dining purchases. 

These statement credits will be applied to your account automatically when you make an eligible purchase from a merchant that classifies itself as travel (such as airlines, hotels, car rentals, taxicabs, limousines, passenger trains and cruise line companies) or a merchant that classifies itself as a restaurant, fast-food restaurant or bar. 

travel and dining credits - U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve Visa Infinite Card Review

When it comes to these kinds of statement credits, the Altitude Reserve outdoes its competition. Both the Chase Sapphire Reserve and the Capital One Venture X offer annual statement credits of $300 that can be used toward travel only. By comparison, the Altitude Reserve Card offers $325 in statement credits that can be used toward travel or dining. 

This flexibility makes these statements more valuable because it’s pretty much impossible not to use them. While you could easily go through a year without spending $300 on travel, pretty much everyone spends at least $300 on dining annually. 

When you make an eligible purchase on your Altitude Reserve Card, it’ll usually take about two to three business days for the statement credits to be applied to your account. 

$100 TSA PreCheck® or Global Entry® Application Fee Reimbursement

Another benefit offered by most premium travel credit cards is a statement credit up to $100 toward the application fee for either TSA PreCheck or Global Entry. The application fee for TSA PreCheck is $78 for five years, and the application fee for Global Entry is $100 for five years. 

$100 TSA PreCheck or Global Entry Application Fee Reimbursement - U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve Visa Infinite Card Review

TSA PreCheck allows you to access expedited lanes for flights departing from U.S. airports. Global Entry allows you to access an expedited lane when going through customs upon reentering the United States from a foreign country and also comes with a subscription to TSA PreCheck.

Since you’ll be reimbursed for whichever of the two that you apply for, you should apply for Global Entry because it includes TSA PreCheck. So, the application fee reimbursement that comes with the Altitude Reserve Card can save you $100 every five years. 

Four Annual Complimentary Airport Lounge Visits 

Every U.S. Bank cardholder will be eligible for a complimentary membership to Priority Pass Select, which gives you access to more than 1,300 airport lounges worldwide. The first four visits you make to airport lounges per year will be free for you and up to four guests. However, after that, you’ll have to pay an entry fee of $32 per person. 

Four Annual Complimentary Airport Lounge Visits - U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve Visa Infinite Card Review

Getting four free lounge visits per year is nice. But even in this category, the Altitude Reserve card doesn’t stack up to the competition. 

The Capital One Venture X (which, once again, has a lower annual fee than the Altitude Reserve) offers unlimited lounge visits. Additionally, you can add up to four authorized users to your Venture X Card, and each of those authorized users can also get their own Priority Pass Select membership. With the Altitude Reserve Card, only the primary cardholder can get a membership. 

No Foreign Transaction Fees

The Altitude Reserve Card is marketed as the top-of-the-line travel card from U.S. Bank. So, naturally, this card is geared toward people who like to travel and use their credit card while abroad. Luckily, the Altitude Reserve Card doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees for making purchases outside of your country of residence.

This is a standard feature on most premium travel cards. However, some credit cards will charge you a foreign transaction fee as high as 3%. So, zero foreign transaction fees with the Altitude Reserve Card could save you a heap of money if you travel abroad often. 

Welcome Bonus

Currently, the U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve Card is offering a valuable welcome bonus for spending a certain amount of money in a certain period of time after signing up. If you do end up signing up for the Altitude Reserve card, you’re going to want to make sure that you earn the welcome bonus because it’s a great opportunity to rack up a lot of points quickly.

Receive 50% Value Boost When Redeeming Through Altitude Rewards Center

One great benefit of the Altitude Reserve Card is that you can receive a 50% boost in the value of your points when you redeem them through the Altitude Rewards Center. This portal allows you to book hotels, airfare, car rentals, cruises and select activities and experiences. 

Receive 50% Value Boost When Redeeming Through Altitude Rewards Center - car rentals

This perk is comparable to the 50% value bonus offered with the Chase Sapphire Reserve card when you redeem your points for travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal. However, unlike U.S. Bank, Chase allows you to transfer Ultimate Rewards points to other travel programs. 

U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve Visa Infinite Card Drawbacks

While the U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve Card is a solid premium travel card, particularly for those in the habit of using mobile wallet payments, this card still has some drawbacks that you should be aware of. In particular, the fact that U.S. Bank doesn’t have any transfer partners is a major disadvantage when compared to other premium travel cards.

No Option to Transfer Points to Other Travel Programs

Unfortunately, the Altitude Rewards program comes with a major drawback—you can’t transfer your points to any other travel loyalty programs. This lack of transfer partners is a huge disadvantage for frequent travelers who like to transfer their points strategically to get the most value out of them.

Currently, the only way to redeem your points is to spend them through the Altitude Rewards Center. Although the Altitude Rewards Center offers flights, hotels, cruises, rental cars and more from most major travel companies, your redemption options are far more limited than they are with other premium travel cards.

travel and dining

For instance, with the Capital One Venture X Card, you can transfer your miles to a multitude of different travel loyalty programs at a 1:1 ratio, and doing so is often the best way to get the most value out of your points. Likewise, the Chase Sapphire Reserve allows you to transfer their points to many partner programs at a 1:1 ratio as well. 

Having the option to transfer your points to partner programs means that you can find outsized value if you’re willing to do some research. With the U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve Card, you’re always going to get 1.5 cents per point in value when you redeem through the Altitude Rewards Center. 

Requires Excellent Credit

Unfortunately, unless you have good credit (which is generally considered to be a credit score of 680 or above), you’re probably not going to qualify for the Altitude Reserve Card. Occasionally, consumers with lower credit scores are approved for this card. However, it’s unlikely that you’ll be approved if your credit score is not in the “good” or “excellent” range.

If you currently have a credit score that’s in the “average” or even “bad” range, there are still credit card options out there for you. Unfortunately, you probably won’t be able to qualify for the U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve Card (or any other premium travel card) until you’ve raised your credit score. 

$400 Annual Fee

The Altitude Reserve Card has an annual fee of $400, which is high compared to most other cards on the market. However, if you take advantage of this card’s spending bonuses and other benefits (in particular, the $325 of statement credits toward dining and travel), you can easily offset that annual fee. 

While $400 might sound like a lot of money to some people, it is fairly inexpensive when you compare the Altitude Reserve Card’s annual fee to other premium travel cards’ annual fees. For example, the Capital One Venture X Card has an annual fee of $395; the Chase Sapphire Reserve has an annual fee of $550; and The Platinum Card® from American Express has an annual fee of $695 (see rates & fees). 

Still, having to pay a lump sum of $400 every cardmember anniversary can be difficult for some consumers who have limited cash on hand. In that case, you may want to seek out a card with a lower annual fee or no annual fee. 

High Ongoing APR

If you’re in the habit of carrying a balance from month to month, doing so on the U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve Card can be rather expensive because of this card’s high ongoing APR. So, if you don’t pay your balance off in full, you could incur some high interest charges in the double digits. 

Of course, if you pay your balance off in full every month (which is something you should always do), then this card’s high APR won’t affect you whatsoever. 

Other Cards to Consider

In most areas, the Altitude Reserve Card can’t compete with other premium travel cards from other well-known issuers. However, if you’re willing to use mobile wallet payments as often as possible, this card might be a good option for you. Otherwise, you’re better off going with a different premium travel card. Here are some of the other options for you. 

Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card

The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card is a pretty good alternative to the Altitude Reserve Card because the two cards charge almost the same annual fee (the Venture X charges $395 whereas the Altitude Reserve charges $400). 

However, when you compare the spending bonuses and benefits offered by the Venture X Card to those offered by the Altitude Reserve, it’s clear that the Venture X offers more bang for your buck. 

First and foremost, here are the spending bonuses offered by the Capital One Venture X Card:

  • 10X miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
  • 5X miles on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Travel 
  • 2X miles on all other purchases 

The Venture X Card offers 10X miles on rental cars and hotels through the Capital One Travel portal whereas the Altitude Reserve Card offers just 5X points on rental cars and hotels through the U.S. Bank travel portal. Additionally, the Altitude Reserve Card doesn’t offer elevated earnings on flights through its travel portal, and the Venture X Card earns 5X miles on flights and vacation rentals purchased through Capital One Travel.

Although it’s certainly nice that the Altitude Reserve Card offers 3X points on other travel purchases and mobile wallet payments, its baseline earnings for all other purchases is only 1X point. The Venture X Card, on the other hand, offers a baseline of 2X miles on every purchase.

Capital One miles are also far more flexible than U.S. Bank Altitude Rewards points. Whereas points earned with the Altitude Reserve Card can be redeemed only for travel through the Altitude Rewards Center and will always yield a fixed value of 1.5 cents per point, miles earned with the Venture X Card can be transferred to more than 15 loyalty programs. And in some cases, doing so can help you get a redemption value far exceeding 1.5 cents per mile. 

The airport lounge access benefit that comes with the Capital One Venture X Card is also far better than the lounge access offered by the Altitude Reserve Card. With the Altitude Reserve, you receive a complimentary Priority Pass Select membership for the primary cardholder only, and you get just four free visits to lounges plus another four for guests per year. 

With the Venture X Card, you can get a Priority Pass Select membership for the primary cardholder and for up to four authorized users. All of those memberships also receive unlimited free visits to lounges. It’s also worth noting that Venture X cardholders will receive unlimited complimentary access to Capital One Lounges whereas the U.S. Bank doesn’t have its own network of airport lounges. 

The Altitude Reserve Card does outcompete the Venture X Card when it comes to statement credits, though. The Venture X Card offers $300 in annual statement credits that can go only toward travel purchases through Capital One Travel, but the Altitude Reserve Card offers $325 in annual statement credits that can be used at any business that’s considered to be in the travel or dining category.

Overall, the Capital One Venture X is a better card for those who like to travel. You can earn far greater spending bonuses on travel-related spending; you have more travel redemption options; and the airport lounge access perk is far better with the Venture X Card. 

Chase Sapphire Reserve®

The Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card is less of a one-to-one comparison to the Altitude Reserve Card because its annual fee is $150 higher. The Chase Sapphire Reserve charges $550 whereas the U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve charges $400. Still, if you have some wiggle room in your budget, you might want to consider going with the Sapphire Reserve over the Altitude Reserve.  

Although the Sapphire Reserve has a significantly higher annual fee, it makes up for it with its outstanding spending bonuses: 

  • 10X points on hotels and rental cars booked through the Chase Travel portal
  • 10X points on Chase Dining purchases
  • 10X points on Lyft rides (through March 2025)
  • 5X points on flights booked through the Chase Travel
  • 3X points on other travel purchases, after the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually
  • 3X points on dining purchases at restaurants (including eligible delivery services, takeout and dining out)
  • 1X point on all other purchases

As you can see, the Sapphire Reserve card offers far superior spending bonuses when it comes to both travel and dining. By comparison, the Sapphire Reserve card offers 10X points on hotels and rental cars booked through its travel portal whereas the Altitude Reserve Card offers 5X points on hotels and rental cars booked through its respective travel portal. 

Hotel Bookings thru Chase Ultimate Rewards portal

You also can earn 5X points on flights booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards and 3X points on all other travel purchases. When it comes to spending bonuses for travel, the Chase Sapphire Reserve can earn you a lot more rewards than the Altitude Reserve. 

The Chase Sapphire Reserve card also offers amazing bonuses on dining, which is something that the Altitude Reserve card lacks. The Sapphire Reserve card earns 10X points on purchases through Chase Dining, a portal that allows you to book dining experiences at some of the best restaurants in your area. Plus, if you can’t find your favorite restaurant on Chase Dining, you’ll still earn 3X points on all other dining purchases. 

Like the Altitude Reserve Card, the Sapphire Reserve also offers a 50% boost in the value of your points when you redeem them through Chase’s travel portal. However, unlike the Altitude Reserve, the Sapphire Reserve gives you the option to transfer your points to one of their 14 transfer partners. The fact that you can transfer your Chase points to partner programs makes this currency far more valuable than U.S. Bank points. 

In terms of airport lounge access, the Chase Sapphire Reserve card also outshines the Altitude Reserve Card. With the Chase card, you’ll get unlimited complimentary visits to Priority Pass Lounges vs. the U.S. Bank card, which comes with four free lounge visits per year. Chase also has its own network of airport lounges that are always free to enter for Sapphire Reserve cardholders. 

The Altitude Reserve does have the advantage over the Sapphire Reserve in terms of statement credits as the Sapphire Reserve offers $300 in annual statement credits for travel only, and the Altitude Reserve’s $325 credits can be used for travel and dining. 

US Bank Altitude Reserve Visa Infinite Card Review

The Bottom Line

In summary, the U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve Visa Infinite Card is a good premium travel card for consumers with excellent credit who use mobile wallet payments often. In terms of spending bonuses and travel-related perks, the Altitude Reserve can’t compete with the other premium travel cards on the market from bigger-name issuers like Chase and Capital One. 

However, where the Altitude Reserve Card does hold the advantage is in its ability to earn 3X points on mobile wallet payments (limited to Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay). Nowadays, you can pay for most things in the United States using mobile wallet payments, which means that you can earn 3X points on most of your purchases if you can remember to pay with your mobile wallet. 

Unfortunately, U.S. Bank Altitude Rewards points aren’t nearly as valuable as other credit card currencies like Chase Ultimate Rewards points or Capital One miles due to the fact that U.S. Bank doesn’t allow you to transfer points to other travel loyalty programs. 

If you want to redeem your U.S. Bank points for travel, you’ll have to do so through the Altitude Rewards Center, which always provides a redemption value of 1.5 cents per point if you have the Altitude Reserve Card. 

With Chase points, American Express Membership Rewards points, Capital One miles and several other credit card rewards currencies, you can transfer your points to other travel programs (usually at a 1:1 ratio) and often find redemption values that exceed 1.5 cents per point. For this reason, getting a travel card from U.S. Bank usually isn’t your best option. 

Still, the ability to earn 3X points on mobile wallet payments is a reason that you might want to add the Altitude Reserve Card to your wallet. If you use mobile wallet apps for everything, you can essentially use this card to get a baseline of 3X points on all purchases. Plus, this card also comes with $325 in statement credits toward travel or dining that can help you offset this card’s $400 annual fee quickly. 

All in all, the Altitude Reserve Card from U.S. Bank has a niche role as a card that offers great rewards on mobile wallet payments. However, when compared to similar cards with similar annual fees, its spending bonuses and other benefits are fairly unimpressive.