Let’s start this post by saying we’ve had two Altitude Reserve cards: one for me and one for my SO. We cancelled one of them as the annual fee timing coincided with the date when new “nerfs” were implemented. The nerfs include (a) 5k cap per billing cycle on 3x points earning on mobile wallet payments, (b) annual $325 travel credit must be booked through U.S. Bank’s Travel Center, and (c) points redemption value towards “travel” reduced from 1.5 cents to 1 cent each (see details in the screenshot at the end of the post).
Personally, (a) is not a big deal, (b) is an annoyance, but (c) is a huge nerf. So, we prepared the cancellation of one credit card and the potential cancellation of both credit cards by redeeming almost all of the points for 1.5 cents each. It is possible that their travel partners may WOW us, but I seriously doubt it. Credit cards, especially U.S. Bank’s credit cards, typically move downward in value, not upward (see Cash+, Radisson Rewards, and most recently US Smartely, etc.). Anyone reasonable will say that these nerfs on past U.S. Bank’s cards could be seen coming a mile away, and the same argument holds for Altitude Reserve. Altitude Reserve was too good.
I think the card still has the potential to be pretty good. I would argue that even in its current state, it is a good card. However, I’ve come to loathe using various banks’ travel centres. As someone with several premium credit cards, this puts a burden on me to use all of them for actual stays. I’ve been using most of them for work trips, but the downside is often that I do not get hotel rewards, etc.
Closing Thoughts
So, overall, we cancelled one of the cards purely because I find booking via a travel portal annoying, and I have too many cards that give travel portal credit. It is very likely that I will cancel our remaining Altitude Reserve when the annual fee is due, but hopefully by then, travel partners are revealed and/or I continue to get a generous retention offer.
