Westpac Altitude Black vs Westpac Altitude Qantas Black

Westpac Altitude Black vs Westpac Altitude Qantas Black

Hello we are looking for adivce on whether to opt for a Westpac Altitude Black credit card or Westpac Altitude Qantas Black credit card.  thanks eb

The advantage of the qantas card is that the points are immediately transferred to qantas rather than being held by westpac. therefore they cannot be held back if you cancel card as they can be with altitude.

Downside with qantas card is you can only have them transferred to qantas

That is not exactly the case.

Altitude points can be transferred to Virgin straight away too (if you opt in for it).

They can also be transferred to a few other airlines (by request).

Essentially the choice between Altitude and Altitude Qantas is primarily about the airline.

My experience, having had the Altitude Black for a few months now and having redeemed some of the points on more than one occasion:

-Transaction shows as "pending" instantaneously, if you're watching your account, on either AmEx or MasterCard.

-Transactions clear to posted overnight, in a batch, usually about two business days after they were initiated.

-The next morning after they clear, around 07:30, the points are available.

-A transfer initiated immediately after the points are available, shows in my KrisFlyer account by the same afternoon.

Other tips:

-Obviously, the Qantas option will move your points there without intervention (and without any alternative); I can't speak to the timeframe required. The Altitude option lets you pool the points until needed, and then choose from KrisFlyer, Velocity, Asia Miles (and I think maybe another option or two).

-The foreign exchange fee is 3.0% for MasterCard and 3.5% for AmEx, and note that the points earn rate is identical for overseas transactions (same as domestic AmEx, but better than domestic MasterCard). However, the underlying card scheme forex rates are different. I processed multiple same-day transactions to compare, and found: AmEx turned out cheaper (slightly) for USD, and MasterCard turned out cheaper (slightly) for GBP. This is convenient, because AmEx acceptance is near-universal in the US, but much less than Visa/MasterCard in the UK.

-Points transfers from Velocity to KrisFlyer are virtually instantaneous. I have had no occasion to transfer the other way yet, so I can't compare it.