Altitude Connect Card
$95, waived first year
50,000 points
$3,000 initial spend
($500 net value, .17/$)
Signup Bonus Chart4x on travel and gas (4%)
5x on prepaid hotels and cars via US Bank(5%)
2x on grocery, dining, and streaming (2%)
1x Everything Else (1%)
No Foreign Transaction Fee
This card is primarily interesting for its solid signup bonus. The bonus rewards on travel and gas are good, but probably not good enough to justify the $95 annual fee.
Note: You can't share points between your Altitude Reserve and Altitude Connect cards or redeem Altitude Connect points for more than 1 cent each.
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Collecting the Signup Bonus
It is worth signing up for this card just to collect the signup bonus. The typical signup bonus is $500. The bonus category rates are good, but probably not worth holding onto the card after the initial year (and paying the $95 annual fee).
Notable Benefits
- Streaming bonus. If you use the card to pay for a streaming service for 11 months in a row, you'll receive a credit for the 12th month (up to $30 per year). Not much, but at least the card earns 2% rewards on the ongoing charges.
- $100 TSA fee credit. Every 4 years, you can receive an automatic reimbursement of your Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee (up to $100).
- Access to the Visa Signature Luxury Hotel Collection. As with all Visa Signature cards, you'll get access to Visa's luxury hotel program. Whenever you book one of the 900+ participating hotels, you'll receive a set of valuable benefits, including free breakfast, late check-out, and a $25 food and beverage credit. The Visa program has slightly weaker benefits than the other luxury hotel programs, but includes a larger number of more affordable hotel options and a best price guarantee. Take Advantage of Luxury Hotel Programs for Valuable Extra Perks.
- Access to Visa Signature Offers. Your card entitles you to a set of special offers available from Visa.
Bonus Categories
- 4% on travel is good. But you can do a little better with the best travel reward cards. While it usually won't make sense to buy prepaid hotels and cars through the Altitude Rewards Center, if you do, you'll get 5%. Best Credit Cards for Travel Spending.
- 4% on gas is good. But you can get similar rates from other cards (and even better rates from the best cards for gas spending). Best Credit Cards for Gas Spending.
- The other bonus category reward rates are not very interesting. You should be earning at least as much with your general-purpose reward card and can do even better with a card that earns bonus rewards for these categories. And you never want to use this card for your everyday purchases.
Getting Rid of the Card
- Make sure to cash out your rewards balance before you cancel your card.
- Rather than cancelling your card, you may want to convert it to the Cash+ card. It earns 5% back on your choice of two categories and you can choose less common categories like Department Stores, Sporting Good Stores, and Utilities.
- You might be able to receive a retention offer to keep your card. It could be enough to make it worthwhile to keep the card.