Westpac Altitude Rewards program guide

Westpac Altitude Rewards is Westpac’s loyalty program for credit card points earn from your day-to-day spend. It’s similar to the other major programs out there in that there is a range of cards in which you can earn Altitude Rewards points, and a number of frequent flyer transfer partners you can use them with.

Altitude Rewards is a versatile program, and partners with Qantas Frequent Flyer, Malaysia Airlines Enrich, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, Singapore Airlines Krisflyer and Air New Zealand Airpoints.

This guide attempts to cover off the ins and outs of Altitude Rewards, the card range and the best partners to transfer your points to.

Note: Westpac also owns St.George Bank, Bank of Melbourne and Bank SA. These three other banks all share a common program which is very similar to Altitude Rewards—Amplify Rewards. The affiliate partners aren’t quite the same though.

Using points: program partners and transfer rates

Let’s get into the points first—the range of frequent flyer program partners that Altitude Rewards have available to cardholders.

In short, Westpac has a wide range of airline partners, with:

• Singapore Airlines Krisflyer
• Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
• Malaysia Airlines Enrich
• Air New Zealand Airpoints

The transfer rate to most programs is 3 Altitude Rewards points to 1 frequent flyer point/mile. The exceptions is Airpoints where the transfer rate is 180:1 (poor value).

If there are changes at any time, this Altitude Rewards page should highlight this.

Note also that the Westpac Altitude Rewards Business cards have Qantas Frequent Flyer as a transfer partner, meaning you don’t have to direct sweep your points over to Qantas. There are very few cards on the market that offer Qantas transfers, and it’s a win for the flexibility of your points.

These programs are good options for competitive frequent flyer point redemptions in the region, and Westpac aren’t missing any key airline partners, which is great.

Earning points: the Altitude Rewards credit card range

If you want to maximise the number of flexible points you can earn, the ability to transfer points to Asia Miles or KrisFlyer is fairly valuable and as a result, is well worth considering.

Altitude Black Mastercard

The Altitude Black is Westpac’s premium card, with an accompanying high annual fee. It’s geared towards those who spend the most on their card, want a higher earn rate, are happy to pay the larger annual fee and will get value from the ongoing benefits.

Given the number of benefits that come with Altitude Black, there’s a full standalone guide to the Altitude Black and Altitude Qantas cards here.

In brief, the benefits are:

• Airport lounge access with Priority Pass membership and two included lounge visits—or if opted into Altitude Qantas, two Qantas lounge passes
• Broader insurance coverage, including travel and extended warranty (See PDS here)
• Access to Westpac Concierge

Read the full Point Hacks Guide to the Westpac Altitude Black here

Find out more

Altitude Platinum Mastercard

The Altitude Platinum is the mid-range card in the Altitude range with an annual fee of $150 with the Mastercard.

It comes with fewer benefits than the Altitude Black but gives access to the Altitude Rewards program with uncapped earn rates and a friendlier annual fee.

With the Altitude Platinum card, you’ll get a range of insurances, including overseas travel insurance for trips of up to three months, transit accident insurance and extended warranty. You should check the descriptions for each policy if you plan to rely on them. Read the PDS here.

Read the full Point Hacks guide to the Westpac Altitude Platinum

Find out more

Altitude Mastercard

The entry-level Altitude Rewards card comes in with a $100 annual fee, and few extra benefits. This card however is no longer available to new cardholders.

The earn rates are the same as the Altitude Platinum Mastercard but there’s a reduced points cap of 5,000 Altitude Rewards points or 2,500 Qantas Points per statement period.

Altitude Qantas vs Altitude Rewards

Westpac makes it relatively easy to swap between Altitude Qantas and Altitude Rewards:

If you have an Altitude Mastercard, Altitude Platinum Mastercard, or Altitude Black card, you may switch all cards linked to the card account between Altitude Rewards and Altitude Qantas programs at any time and any number of times, subject to the time it takes us to process each request. You should allow at least 10 business days for a request to switch to be processed or as advised at the time of your request.

Note that there is an annual $50 Qantas Rewards fee if you opt to earn Qantas Points (rather than Altitude Rewards).

This makes it possible to take a signup bonus in one currency (e.g. Altitude Qantas), and then earn points ongoing in another (e.g. Altitude Rewards), if there is value in doing so.

When choosing Altitude Qantas over Altitude Rewards cards, you’ll need to factor in the different earn rates of each currency and transfer rates to partner programs.

With Qantas Points, you will earn an additional bonus point per dollar when spending with Qantas.

All up, the choice between Altitude Qantas or Altitude Rewards is primarily up to your personal points-earning preference. You might find a sign-up bonus from a card to be more valuable in raw Qantas Points, but when using the card on an ongoing basis, there may be more value in taking advantage of Altitude Rewards’ flexibility from having a wide range of transfer options.

My take: who is Westpac Altitude Rewards and the Altitude Card range for?

Westpac Altitude Rewards is a pretty versatile program with a range of points transfer partners, making it suitable for those looking for flexibility in how they can use their points.

This is a key benefit for when your ‘go-to’ airline or frequent flyer program isn’t offering points redemption seats for your chosen routes or dates and may make it easier for you to use more of your hard earned points in the long run.