Westpac Altitude Black Awards Card – Review

Quick verdict: a weak card with one redeeming feature

For most people, there are better cards. The $295 annual fee has no spend-based waiver — unlike the NAB Rewards Signature (free if you spend $5,000 a month) or fee-free debit options, you pay it every year no matter what. The 3% foreign transaction fee rules it out for overseas spending. And the two complimentary lounge passes are worth roughly $100 against a $295 fee — you could buy three Priority Pass visits for the price and skip the card.

The one genuine reason to hold it: warehousing points. If you like earning a flexible points currency and pointing it at the right airline program later — rather than locking into Qantas or Velocity today — the Altitude Black is one of the few cards built for exactly that. For a strategic points collector who values that flexibility, it earns its place. For everyone else, it’s a pass.

Westpac Altitude Black earn rate: points per dollar

This is where it has to justify the fee, and the picture is mixed. You earn:

Two catches the marketing glosses over. First, the headline rates only apply up to $10,000 of spend per statement period — past that, earning halves to 0.5 points per $1. The card is pitched at high spenders, but the high spenders it’s aimed at hit that cap and earn less than the rate suggests. Second, that “3 points per $1 on international” looks great until you remember the 3% foreign transaction fee — you’re paying a 3% surcharge to earn those points, which wipes out the benefit. The international earn rate is a number that only works on paper.

What the points are really worth (after the transfer haircut)

Altitude Points transfer to airline programs at 3 Altitude Points to 1 partner point. That 3:1 ratio is the thing no one puts next to the earn rate — so let’s do it. Here’s what you actually earn in airline points per dollar:

So on everyday spend you’re really earning about 0.67 airline points per dollar — less than a direct-earn card like the ANZ Frequent Flyer Black, which gives you 1 Qantas point per $1 with no transfer haircut. This is the honest trade-off of warehousing: you keep your options open, but you earn at a worse rate than a card committed to one program. The flexibility is real; it just isn’t free.

Transfer partners: where your Altitude Points can go

This is the warehousing case — the spread of programs you can point your banked points at:

Note what’s not here: you can’t transfer Altitude Points to Qantas directly — only via the clunky Everyday Rewards detour. If Qantas is your program, choose the Altitude Qantas version of the card (which earns Qantas directly but adds a $75 program fee), or a dedicated Qantas card.

The fees: a $295 you can’t escape

Here’s where the card fails my main test — can you get out of the fees? With this one, no.

• $295 annual card fee, ongoing, no waiver. There’s a reduced first-year promo ($200, or $149/$99 for existing Westpac customers), but it reverts to $295 every year after, and there’s no way to spend it off.
• +$75 a year if you choose the Qantas or Velocity version. Westpac proudly notes the plain Altitude Rewards option has “$0 annual Rewards Program Fee” — which is a strange thing to advertise, since it just means they’re not charging you an extra fee on top of the $295.
• 3% foreign transaction fee on overseas and international online purchases — unavoidable, and the reason not to use this card abroad.
• 20.99% p.a. purchase rate, up to 45 interest-free days.

Compare that to cards where the fee is actually escapable, and the Altitude Black looks expensive for what it delivers. The CommBank Ultimate Awards charges a similar fee but waives it entirely if you meet a monthly spend, and CommBank’s debit and card products can waive the fee through an eligible home loan or Yello tier. The NAB Rewards Signature is free in any month you spend $5,000. Westpac gives you no such out — the $295 is simply the price of holding the card, every year.

Lounge access and insurance: the better bits

The card’s stronger features, in fairness:

Lounge access. The Altitude Rewards version includes 2 complimentary Priority Pass visits a year (1,000+ lounges worldwide; one visit can be shared with a guest), registered at the Priority Pass site. The Altitude Qantas version swaps these for 2 Qantas Club invitations instead. Useful — but two passes worth ~$100 against a $295 fee isn’t the bargain it sounds. If lounge access is your main goal, our guide to credit card lounge access in Australia covers cards that do it better.

Insurance. The card includes complimentary international and domestic travel insurance (activated by prepaying $500 of travel costs to the card), plus purchase protection and extended warranty cover. It’s genuine cover that can offset the fee if you’d otherwise buy travel insurance — as always, the activation conditions and limits matter, so read our credit card travel insurance guide for which cards actually pay out and the traps to watch.

Westpac Altitude vs St George Amplify: same group, different program

Worth knowing if you bank within the Westpac group: Westpac (Altitude) and St George, Bank of Melbourne and BankSA (Amplify) are the same banking group, but Altitude and Amplify are separate rewards programs — you can’t move points between them. They earn at a similar rate, but the transfer partners differ: Amplify has fewer airline partners (no Asia Miles or Airpoints) but a better Velocity transfer rate. If you bank with St George rather than Westpac, see our St George Amplify review — it’s the program you’d be on.

Before you apply: can you afford the fee?

A $295-a-year card with no waiver only makes sense if you’ll use the points and perks enough to clear that cost — and if the application won’t dent a borrowing position you care about. Run your overseas spend through the FX Rip-off Calculator, and if you’re weighing a card application against a future loan, the tools hub has the spend and balance-sheet calculators to sanity-check it first.

Who is the Westpac Altitude Black for?

• Strategic points warehousers who want to bank a flexible currency and decide between Velocity, KrisFlyer or Asia Miles later — and will time transfers to the 15% bonuses.
• People who will use the Priority Pass passes and the travel insurance enough to justify $295.

Who should avoid it?

• Anyone who likes to get out of fees — the $295 has no waiver and the 3% forex fee is unavoidable. A waivable-fee or fee-free card serves you better.
• Qantas loyalists — no direct Qantas transfer; take a Qantas card instead.
• High spenders who’ll blow past $10,000 a statement, where the earn rate halves.
• Anyone choosing a card mainly for lounge access — two passes don’t justify the fee.

Frequently asked questions