U.S. Bank Altitude® Connect Visa Signature® Card Review

March 21, 2025: The U.S. Bank Altitude® Connect Visa Signature® Card is the best travel credit card you’ve never heard of, but with 4x points on travel and generous, unique travel benefits, this card should not be ignored.

Our review of the US Bank Altitude Connect

Cards and Points Rating: 5.0/5.0
Read more about our star ratings.

There’s a strong argument that the U.S. Bank Altitude® Connect Visa Signature® Card is best travel credit card with no annual fee. If you travel, this hidden gem deserves a space in your wallet.

First, there’s the card’s rewards on travel: You’ll earn 4x points on your travel purchases and 5x points on your prepaid travel purchases that you book directly in the Altitude Rewards Center. And those rewards don’t have any earnings caps. That alone might be enough to make a card with no annual fee one of the best credit cards for travel, but it gets even better.

In addition to plenty of points on travel, the card offers four free visits to Priority Pass lounges—an almost unheard-of benefit in a no-annual-fee card. But the travel benefits don’t stop there. You’ll get a credit for your TSA PreCheck® or Global Entry® membership, travel protections including trip delay reimbursement, and a unique SmartDelay benefit that can provide airport lounge access when your flight is delayed. Finally, the card’s partnership with GigSky provides free mobile data plans when traveling internationally. That’s a ton of value for a card offering no annual fee.

The only real downside to this card is that you can’t get full cash-back value for your points unless you have a U.S. Bank checking or savings account. Requiring another account to access the full value of your rewards is annoying. We get it—you want to cross-sell your customers—but this is a hoop that we’ll jump through because the card offers so much value.

If you’re willing to jump through the hoop of getting a U.S. Bank checking account to access the full value of your rewards, you should seriously consider this card for travel if you want generous rewards, great benefits, and you want to keep your annual fee expenses low.

U.S. Bank Altitude® Connect Visa Signature® Card at a glance

Annual fee: $0
Foreign transaction fee: None

All information about the U.S. Bank Altitude® Connect Visa Signature® Card has been collected independently by cardsandpoints.com.

The U.S. Bank Altitude® Connect Visa Signature® Card offers unique value to travelers, thanks to its partnership with GigSky and its Trip Delay Reimbursement with SmartDelay.

Sign-up bonus

Best sign-up bonus: Earn 20,000 bonus points. Just spend $1,000 in eligible net purchases in the first 90 days.
Learn how to apply.

This bonus is earned as points which can be redeemed for maximum value (1 cent per point) only when redeeming for a deposit into an eligible U.S. Bank deposit account or redeeming for travel.

Rewards

• 5x on prepaid hotels and car rentals booked directly in the Altitude Rewards Center.
• 4x on travel.
• 4x at gas stations/EV charging stations
  on your first $1,000 each quarter. Excludes discount stores/supercenters and wholesale clubs.
• 2x on dining.
• 2x on streaming services.
• 2x at grocery stores
  excludes discount stores/supercenters and wholesale clubs.
• 1x on all other eligible purchases.

Rewards are earned as Altitude Connect points, which can be redeemed for travel through the Altitude Rewards Center, a deposit to a qualifying U.S. Bank account, and charity at 1 cent per point. Other redemptions have less value. Note that cash back redemptions other than deposits to a U.S. Bank account will net you 0.8 cents per point.

Benefits

Consumer insurance benefits

The U.S. Bank Altitude® Connect Visa Signature® Card does not offer any consumer insurance benefits.

Travel and travel insurance benefits

• Priority Pass™ Select membership with 4 free visits per year.
• TSA PreCheck® or Global Entry® credit.
• Complimentary GigSky global mobile data plans.
• Trip cancellation and interruption.
• SmartDelay.
• Roadside dispatch.
• Travel accident benefit.
• Trip delay reimbursement.
• Travel and emergency assistance services.

Partner benefits and statement credits

• 3 months of free Shipt membership, then 9 months at 50% off.

Sign-up bonus: Bonus points for getting a new card

Annual fee: $0

Best sign-up bonus: Earn 20,000 bonus points. Just spend $1,000 in eligible net purchases in the first 90 days.
Learn how to apply.

This bonus is earned as points which can be redeemed for maximum value (1 cent per point) only when redeeming for a deposit into an eligible U.S. Bank deposit account or redeeming for travel.

Rewards: Massive rewards on travel

The U.S. Bank Altitude® Connect Visa Signature® Card offers unusually generous rewards on travel, but to get the most value from your rewards, you’ll need to jump through some hoops. First, here’s what the Altitude Connect earns:

• 5x on prepaid hotels and car rentals booked directly in the Altitude Rewards Center.
• 4x on travel.
• 4x at gas stations/EV charging stations
  on your first $1,000 each quarter. Excludes discount stores/supercenters and wholesale clubs.
• 2x on dining.
• 2x on streaming services.
• 2x at grocery stores
  excludes discount stores/supercenters and wholesale clubs.
• 1x on all other eligible purchases.

Getting the most value from your points

The points you earn with a U.S. Bank Altitude® Connect Visa Signature® Card can be redeemed for a variety of rewards, including cash back, travel, merchandise, and gift cards. But not all rewards are created equal.

Only travel, charity, and cash back redemptions to an eligible U.S. Bank checking account will get you 1.0 cents per point. All other redemptions will get you less value, so be sure that you plan to redeem your rewards for these redemption options. If you plan to redeem points for cash back, plan to have a U.S. Bank checking account. Currently, cash back redemptions as statement credits get only 0.8 cents per point of value.

If you redeem points for charity, you’re going to get additional value—U.S. Bank matches all charity redemptions with its own contribution, equalling 100% of your redemption.

Benefits: Uncommonly good travel benefits on a $0 annual fee card

The U.S. Bank Altitude® Connect Visa Signature® Card is notable for the suite of travel benefits it provides, which is unusually generous on a card with no annual fee. Here’s a bit more on the benefits you’ll get with the card.

Consumer insurance benefits

The U.S. Bank Altitude® Connect Visa Signature® Card does not offer any consumer insurance benefits. Take a look at cards that offer extended warranty and purchase protection for purchases of durable goods like electronics and appliances.

Travel and travel insurance benefits

The U.S. Bank Altitude® Connect Visa Signature® Card offers a suite of travel and insurance benefits that you might expect from a premium travel credit card that carries an annual fee. Here’s what you need to know about these benefits:

• Trip Delay Reimbursement covers up to $300 of expenses if your travel is delayed for 12 hours or more when your travel is delayed for a covered reason, including weather. To get coverage, you must charge your airline or other common carrier tickets to your card.
• Trip Cancellation and Interruption Insurance can cover your non-refundable passenger fares charged to your card if your trip is cancelled or interrupted for a covered reason, up to $2,000 per person, per trip.
• TSA PreCheck® or Global Entry® credit. Get up to a $100 statement credit once every four years toward your enrollment fee charged to your card.
• Roadside Dispatch gives you a contact to dispatch roadside assistance services like flat repair, gas delivery, and towing. Costs of any services provided are your responsibility.
• Travel and Emergency Assistance Services provides a single number to call for a variety of medical, transportation, legal, and other emergency assistance services when you are traveling. The cost of all services provided is the responsibility of the cardholder.
• Priority Pass Select lounge access gives you four complimentary visits to Priority Pass airport lounges each year. Additional lounge visits will be charged to your card.

GigSky mobile data plans: Free data while traveling abroad

One useful and unique feature of the U.S. Bank Altitude® Connect Visa Signature® Card is the complimentary GigSky mobile data plans you’ll get with the card. With the Altitude Connect, you receive unlimited complimentary 15 day, 5GB plans, plus a 20% discount on other plans.

The complimentary mobile data plans are only available outside of the United States and you’ll need to wait until you are abroad to activate them, but they work well. And 5GB is enough data for most travelers to access basic functions like maps and email while abroad.

I’ve personally used GigSky during my recent trip to Southeast Asia and found that the service worked unexpectedly well—in some metro areas, it even worked better than my mobile data service does at home!

SmartDelay: Lounge access when your flight is delayed

In addition to the Priority Pass lounge access you’ll get with the U.S. Bank Altitude® Connect Visa Signature® Card, you can get lounge access when your flight is delayed through SmartDelay.

You’ll need to preregister your flights more than two hours ahead of time. It’s a bit of a cumbersome process, but if your flight suffers a significant delay, you’ll automatically receive lounge access vouchers for you and up to three additional passengers traveling on the same itinerary.

My experience: Great data coverage abroad

Since I’m deep into the travel rewards game, I’m using other cards that offer transferable points to pay for most of my travel, but I got the Altitude Connect for any travel that doesn’t earn at least 3x transferable points on other cards.

What I really got the card for is the complimentary GigSky data plans to use when I’m abroad, and on that front, I’ve been absolutely delighted. I put GigSky’s service to the test against Google Fi’s service during a recent trip to Southeast Asia. GigSky’s services was more consistent and faster almost everywhere, and the 5GB plan I got for free with my card more than covered my data needs when I wasn’t on hotel wifi.

Frankly, I think that the Altitude Connect is an underrated card. I put it in my picks for the best credit cards because the card is pretty ideal for an occasional traveler. U.S. Bank has a great thing going with the Altitude Connect and I believe that the bank could credibly compete with Chase, Capital One, and Amex on the travel credit card front with a premium-tier card with similar benefits. If someone from U.S. Bank’s product team wants to get in touch, I’d be happy to design that product.

Is the Altitude Connect right for you?

If you travel, the Altitude Connect probably has a place in your wallet. Here’s when the Altitude Connect is right for you.

• You are already a U.S. Bank checking or savings account customer. You won’t get the most value out of your rewards unless you’re redeeming your points for a deposit into an eligible U.S. Bank account. If you’re not already a checking/savings customer, you should probably plan to become one if you want this card.
• You travel, want simple rewards, and want to minimize annual fees. The Altitude Connect won’t offer the best possible travel rewards if you’re willing to juggle a wallet full of cards or if you’re willing to pay annual fees to access additional options like point transfers to partners, but it’s pretty compelling if you want more rewards than 2% cash back on your travel and don’t want to pay any annual fees.
• You travel internationally and don’t already have free global data. Google Fi and many T-Mobile plans offer unlimited global data. If you travel internationally any are otherwise paying your cell phone provider $10/day or more for international data, the Altitude Connect can save you a bundle.

Bottom Line: Probably the best travel credit card with no annual fee

The U.S. Bank Altitude® Connect Visa Signature® Card offers more reward value and travel benefits than many cards that have much higher fees. Add to that its unique GigSky and SmartDelay benefits, and there’s a solid argument to be made that the Altitude Connect is the best travel credit card out there. Honestly, if this card is any indication of the direction U.S. Bank would go with a higher-tier travel credit card, we’re ready to jump on board.

Frequently asked questions