Westpac are offering 60,000 Qantas or Altitude Points for new cardholders, taking up a new Altitude Black card. In addition, Westpac is offering a discounted fee of $250 for the first year.
The offer requires an application to be made by June 11, 2018. In addition, you will need to spend at least $5,000 on eligible transactions within 90 days of card approval.
For further information, refer to the Westpac Altitude page.
Altitude Black
Westpac’s Altitude Black cards are the top of the line credit card by the bank. Issues as a Black World MasterCard, it comes with a range of premium features and a higher than normal points earning plan. It does, however, also attract a premium price tag – $395 per year.
One thing the cards do provide is flexibilty.You have the option to earn points in the Westpac Altitude Rewards program, which allows you to move into another program at a later date. This option allows you to move points into programs such as Virgin Australia’s Velocity program, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer program, or even the Enrich program of Malaysia Airlines.
Alternatively, if Qantas is your thing, you have the option to select ‘Qantas Rewards’. This option does remove the zbiltiy to transfer to other programs, with all points earned each month being swept across to Qantas automatically.
Points Earning
Unlike other cards in the Westpac Altitude range, the point earning on the Black card is unlimited. The earnings structure is shown in the following table. The main exception to the earning shown in the table is for payments to the Australian Tax Office. Westpac have removed earnings on payments made to the ATO for both Mastercard and American Express transactions.
The following earn rates apply for purchases made from 1 July 2017, following the decision by Westpac to adjust its earn rates.
Per $1 spent on eligible purchases | Altitude Rewards – Altitude Points | Altitude Qantas – Qantas Points |
---|---|---|
Altitude Black World MasterCard® (Australian merchants) |
1.25 points | 0.625 points |
Altitude Black World MasterCard® (overseas merchants) |
1.25 points | 0.625 points |
Westpac Altitude Black American Express® Card (Separate Account Required) |
2.5 points | 1.25 points |
Bonus Points
If you have signed up to Qantas Rewards, there is an additional point given for each dollar spend om selected Qantas services.
Travel Benefits
As with many premium cards, the Westpac Alitude Black cards come with a host of travel related benefits.
Airport lounge access
Altitude Black cardholders are eligible to two airport lounge visits per year. In the case of the Qantas Rewards version of the cards, two vouchers per year allow access to either the domestic Qantas Clubs and international Qantas-operated business lounges.
For a Altitude Rewards customer, a Priority Pass membership is available. The membership of Priority Pass granted under this offer provides for two free vistis at Priority Pass lounges worlwide. Any additional visit above the two free visits will be charged at $27 US per visit.
In addition, each version of the American Express card will allow you to access the American Express lounge at Sydney Airport. Two free visits per year are available with the card, with any additional visit costing $55 per visit.
Insurance Benefits
The Altitude Black comes with Westpac’s premium credit card insurance coverage. Insurances available include
- Travel insurance for up to 6 months
- Overseas hospital and medical expenses
- Purchase cover for up to 4 months
- Extended warranty of up to 24 months
- Personal liability cover
- Loss of travel documents
- Property damage
- Car rental damage
You will need to read tha associated PDS doucments to assess whether the insurance is suitable for your purposes.
Summary
This is the kind of card that comes with a good earn rate, as well as a number of benefits just for holidng the card. Westpac do run sign up bonuses as well, so it takes some work to determine whether the $395 annual fee represents good value for money.
Overall, it provides quite a compelling offer, especially if there is a good signup bonus around.
[Updates: Removed Bonus Point partners, Removed SPG Benefits, Changed Earn Rates]