Update 8/27/24: reader Physicist points out that you’ll still be able to get a full $.01 per point when redeeming into a U.S. Bank bank account, or when redeeming for travel either in the Altitude Rewards Center or redeeming for travel with Real Time Rewards.
Update 4/10/24: Landing page also says that GigSky benefit will be removed on 8/31/2024.
Original Post:
U.S. Bank has announced major changes coming to the Altitude Connect card, effective September 9, 2024:
Biggest changes:
- The $95 Annual Membership Fee will be removed.
- Points are going down in value from 1 cent-per-point to .8 cents per point. This is true for cash back, Real-Time Rewards, U.S. Bank Rewards Card, Shop with Points at Amazon.com and Paypal. You can still get 1 cent per point in the Altitude Rewards Center when redeeming for travel.
- The $30 credit for annual streaming service purchases will be discontinued.
Points Earnings:
- 4X points at gas stations and EV charging stations will be limited to your first $1,000 each quarter.
- The card earns 2X points on dining, streaming services and at grocery stores. Beginning September 9, 2024, discount stores/supercenters and wholesale clubs are excluded.
- You will continue to earn 5X points on prepaid hotels and car rentals booked directly in the Altitude Rewards Center and 4X points on travel purchases.
Other Changes:
- New benefit: Points can be redeemed for a monetary charitable contribution across a variety of nonprofits and U.S. Bank will match your contribution at 100%.
- The cell phone protection benefit will no longer be available with your card.
Final Thoughts
All other benefits remain unchanged. Notably, the card will keep the Precheck or global entry credit. The card also offers complimentary Priority Pass Select membership with 4 free visits. These are sweet perks for a no-fee card.
Altitude Go Card
It’s not clear to me of what changes are happening to the Altitude Go card. It appears from this page that the card will maintain its $15 streaming credit. I’m not sure if points are going down to .8 cents per point on that card.
Hat tip to reader TJ
No more AF is sweet! But I’m sad about the streaming credit.
Received an offer in my ‘promo’ tabs. $10 for activating Paze, nothing else needed.
How many guests do we get with each visit with PP? If we use the restaurant and have 4 in our family, would it use up all of the visits?
Each visit is one person, could be one time of four people, two times of two people, etc.
Does that mean I can bring friends to PP lounge?
Just redeemed in FLL for 4 people, covered a $110 bill. Net positive on Alt Reserve this year.
So do you meant the PP card can be used for anyone who travels with you?
What I wanna know is does P2 still get 4 passes on Priority Pass with all these changes? I see a couple ppl mentioned in old posts they got 8 passes off their card coz P2 got 4 of their own… And any changes with Smart Delay too which saves you some Priority Passes if you’re on an eligible flight delayed more than 2 hrs, don’t have to pay with card either, seems like it is rarely mentioned https://www.myvisacardportal.com/usbank/en_us/altitude/altitudeconnect/offer-detail.html#travel_perks/A856100
Wasn’t even aware of the Smart Delay benefit. Thanks!
Opens the door by lowering the floor with the AF removal for lower income earners, but lowers the ceiling for high spenders yet still beats out competitors with the new downgrade from 4% to 3.2% cash back. Looks like they’re taking the playbook from Chase. They won’t wholescale nuke things but chip chip chip away at things that while they won’t drive people away it will save them money. We’ve seen this for years, like when they enhanced away the annual point dividend on the CSP and Freedom, the Chase Exclusives for checking account holders, etc.
Are they also removing the annual fee for Business Altitude Connect?
Nope, that one is unchanged.
Gigsky seems to have been extended into 2025…. any info on this? This is a GREAT benefit, especially for a no annual fee card. Could easily save me a couple hundred dollars on a long trip.
mentioned extension last wk back on 8/22 https://www.doctorofcredit.com/major-changes-to-u-s-bank-altitude-connect-card/#comment-1897306
They better not touch my altitude reserve
Says points can be redeemed at 1cent/point to an ELIGIBLE US Bank account. Anyone know what an Eligible account would be?
According to the local US Bank, you can redeem into a Smartly checking account. The account has a $0 monthly fee (instead of $6.95) if you have a consumer credit card.
More info on Smartly checking here: https://www.usbank.com/bank-accounts/checking-accounts/bank-smartly-checking.html
Does this priority pass include restaurant access?