US Bank Altitude Reserve adds airline and hotel transfer partners for first time

Full text

One of the things the rewards community has waited years for just happened.

For the first time, U.S. Bank has officially added airline and hotel transfer partners to the U.S. Bank Altitude™ Reserve Visa Infinite® Card , as reported by The Frequent Miler .

This move has been a long time coming. U.S. Bank has said transfer partners were "coming soon" since the $400-per-year card underwent significant benefit changes in 2024 and 2025.

Those changes included restricting the card's annual $325 travel and dining credit to purchases through the bank's Travel Center and dropping the value of point redemptions from 1.5 cents each to 1 cent each.

Still, with the card's unique bonus category of 3 points per dollar on mobile wallet spending (up to $5,000 per month) and the promise of transfer partners on the way, some cardholders held onto their Altitude Reserve cards to see how the program might evolve.

And now we know.

The information for the U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve Visa Infinite card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

U.S. Bank's new transfer partners

U.S. Bank now has four transfer partners :

Program Transfer Ratio

Air France-KLM Flying Blue 1:1

Accor Live Limitless 2:1

Qantas Frequent Flyer 1:1

Ethiopian Airlines ShebaMiles 1:1

US BANK Qantas, Flying Blue and Accor are all familiar transfer options across various credit card rewards programs. ShebaMiles, however, is a much more unusual addition.

The list is small compared with the transfer ecosystems offered by major rewards programs. But the addition of transfer partners gives Altitude Reserve cardholders something they haven't had before: the ability to potentially get more value from their points by transferring them to loyalty programs rather than redeeming them at a fixed value.

Related: How (and why) you should earn transferable credit card points

Could more U.S. Bank transfer partners be coming?

Beyond the significance of a card issuer adding transfer partners for the first time, a few factors make this development particularly interesting.

First, the Altitude Reserve isn't currently open to new applicants — and hasn't been for quite some time.

TPG has reached out to U.S. Bank for comment on whether transfer partners could eventually expand to other U.S. Bank cards or whether the Altitude Reserve might reopen to new applicants.

ERIC ROSEN/THE POINTS GUY There's also one notable omission: Korean Air SkyPass.

U.S. Bank issues the Korean Air SkyPass credit cards, yet SkyPass isn't among this initial group of transfer partners. It would be a particularly interesting addition if it were to happen in the future, given some of the program's solid sweet spots and how uncommon it is as a transfer partner, especially since Korean Air left the Chase Ultimate Rewards program in 2018.

Of course, there's no guarantee that Korean Air, or any additional program, will join U.S. Bank's transfer partner lineup.

But the launch raises a bigger question about whether this is simply a long-promised benefit for existing Altitude Reserve cardholders or the beginning of a broader transferable rewards strategy for U.S. Bank.

Related: Best rewards credit cards of 2026

Bottom line

While this is a small group of transfer partners on a card that isn't available to new applicants, it's still a noteworthy development.

This could simply be U.S. Bank making good on its promise to Altitude Reserve cardholders that transfer partners were on the way. Or it could be the first step toward a future where transfer partners play a more robust role at the bank — potentially even on products that are once again available to new applicants.

For now, we'll have to wait and see.

But, those who held onto their Altitude Reserve card can start exploring opportunities with ShebaMiles program or use some of the tried and true sweet spots with Flying Blue to book domestic Delta Air Lines flights from just 5,000 miles each way or even fly to Europe in business class from 60,000 points each way.

If you held onto your Altitude Reserve, we'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.