US Bank Adds Transfer Partners
Any time a bank adds new transfer partners, we're excited to hear the news. This is especially true for a bank that didn't historically have any. The more options, the better. Especially when you consider that transferring points to partners can often yield a much better redemption value. So when we saw the news that US Bank adds transfer partners to its card program yesterday, we were excited. And then we saw it: these partners are only available to cardholders of the US Bank Altitude Reserve Card. This is a card that has been closed to new applications since 2024. Why would US Bank add transfer partners only to a card that nobody can get? Make it make sense! 8/13/26 Update: In even weirder news, US Bank removed Air France/KLM Flying Blue and Qantas Frequent Flyer, leaving only 2 transfer partners. Bizarre, to say the least!
Transfer Partners
US Bank has added the following transfer partners:
- Air France/KLM Flying Blue at a ratio of 1:1
- Ethiopian Airlines Sheba Rewards at a ratio of 1:1
- Qantas Frequent Flyer at a ratio of 1:1
- Accor ALL at a ratio of 2:1
This gives US Bank Altitude Reserve cardholders the ability to transfer to each of the major airline alliances: SkyTeam with Flying Blue, Star Alliance with Ethiopian, and oneworld with Qantas. It also offers one of the most valuable hotel partners with ALL Accor at a 2:1 ratio which matches Capital One's transfer ratio and is slightly lower than both Bilt and Rove.
Transfer Process
In order to even see the eligible transfer partners for US Bank you need to be logged into your Altitude Reserve card account. From there you can navigate to the Rewards Center and select the “Rewards your way with loyalty transfer” option.
Eligible Cards
As mentioned above, the only card that allows for these transfers is the Altitude Reserve. At least for now. And also at least for now, it is not open to new applications or for products changes. But it does make us wonder if a new card is coming. Why would they add transfer partners to a card program they can't market to new customers otherwise? Given that US Bank hinted at transfer partners in 2025 to come by the end of 2025, and it took them until the 3rd quarter of 2026 to quietly launch, we're not holding our breath on the timing.
US Bank Adds Transfer Partners: ToP Thoughts
For most of our audience, and likely even the award travel community as a whole, this is a non-event without the ability to apply for a card to open up access. And while the partners themselves are a nice assortment that cover a lot of territory, there are still only four choices. Time will tell if there is a new card option that opens up these possibilities for new cardholders. In the meantime, most everyone will go back to ignoring US Bank for true award travel.
Do you have an Altitude Reserve card? Are you excited by this development? Let us know your thoughts over in the ToP Facebook group.
