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Almost a year ago to the day, U.S. Bank announced some major changes to the U.S. Bank Altitude™ Reserve Visa Infinite® Card — which has been closed to new applicants since November 2024. In these changes, U.S. Bank teased that transfer partners would be coming soon, but we didn't hear much else.
AwardWallet has checked in with U.S. Bank throughout the year, but there weren't any updates — until now. As first reported by Frequent Miler, U.S. Bank quietly launched transfer partners, but only on select cards.
We reached out to U.S. Bank for comment, and we finally have confirmation that transfer partners are now available. And you'll want to pay close attention, as the information U.S. Bank shared differs from what many other sites have published in the last week.
Here's what we know so far.
U.S. Bank Launches Transfer Partners
U.S. Bank offers some impressive card products, but the main drawback has always been that it doesn't offer any transfer partners. If you prefer fixed-value rewards, you're in luck. But if you're like me and you want to leverage partners to squeeze more value from your rewards, you might've shied away from U.S. Bank cards.
We've been waiting a while for U.S. Bank to introduce transfer partners, and it looks like that day is finally here. Select cardholders can transfer rewards at a 1:1 ratio to the following airline programs:
- Air France/KLM Flying Blue
- Ethiopian Sheba Rewards
This makes U.S. Bank the sole credit card issuer to partner with Ethiopian Airlines.
Although this is certainly a small list of partners, it was clearly intentional. Air France is a member of the SkyTeam alliance, and Ethiopian is a member of the Star Alliance. That means U.S. Bank cardholders have access to dozens of airlines through these alliances. Several other sites reported that Qantas Frequent Flyer, a member of the Oneworld alliance, will also be accessible to U.S. Bank cardholders, but this is not the case.
Considering that U.S. Bank issues Korean Air credit cards, including the SKYPASS Visa Signature® Card and the SKYPASS Select Visa Signature® Card, it's a bit surprising that it didn't list Korean Air as a partner.
You can also transfer rewards to one hotel program — ALL Accor — at a 2:1 ratio.
What's the catch? Well, only select cardholders have access to these partners, but the list is longer than we first thought. Here are the cards with access:
- U.S. Bank FlexPerks® Reserve Visa Infinite® Card
- FlexPerks™ Travel Rewards Visa Signature® Card
- U.S. Bank FlexPerks® Business Travel Rewards
- Altitude Reserve
Cardholders can transfer points by accessing the Rewards Center in their account. From there, select the “Loyalty Points Transfer” redemption option.
What do all of these cards have in common? They aren't open to new applicants. In other words, don't go submitting an application for a new U.S. Bank credit card just yet. U.S. Bank declined to comment on whether transfer partners would be extended to other cards or if any of these cards would reopen to new applicants.
Bottom Line
We finally have confirmation from U.S. Bank that select cardholders do have access to transfer partners. While more cards have access than we originally thought, none on the list are open to new applicants. If you were lucky enough to apply for any of these cards before they were discontinued, you can now transfer rewards to two airline programs and one loyalty program.
Only time will tell if any of these cards reopen to new applicants or if U.S. Bank extends the good news to additional cards. Either way, we'll keep you updated as we learn more.
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