And the issue with US Bank Altitude Reserve continues

[xenon3030]

After several months of waiting, I could finally receive the missed 2X reward points (digital wallet), by US Bank. Today, I tried twice to book flight tickets via Southwest but I did not receive any RTR SMS to redeem the points. I opted-out and opted-in to the RTR program but there was no difference.

While the rewards program is quite appealing, using this card effectively is quite frustrating. They have severe IT or algo issues.

Besides calling them and submitting ticket, does anyone have recommendations to work with this RTR program properly?

[Anonymous]

One problem is that RTR has always been a little hit-and-miss (again IT).  I thought it wasn't working then I got it for some United flight.

BTW, how do you opt in and out, I couldn't find a way?  (Even though that didn't fix it for you!)

[xenon3030]

My Rewards --> Sign-up for Real-Time Rewards --> it will let you to opt-in and opt-out from RTR.

[UncleB]

I've been fortunate... the few times I've planned to redeem a travel charge using RTR it's worked, but I admit I always held my breath a bit knowing there was nothing that could be done if it didn't work.  (I usually only redeem once per year - or less - so when I intend to redeem points it's quite important to me that it works.)

This is the main weakness of the AR for me.  I'd much prefer to have a 'purchase eraser' type feature where I could manually cover an eligible travel charge using the dashboard, but as long as the RTR work-arounds are viable I'll keep playing along.

I'm sorry you're having this issue... hopefully this isn't a sign of things to come for AR cardholders.

[NoHardLimits]

I've also been fortunate with my RTR experiences.  I have my USBAR account setup to only allow for travel category RTR redemptions and it has worked quite well for my hotel stays.  It consistently redeems at 1.5 cents per point when I have enough points to cover the full charge.  I average about 1 redemption every 3-4 months.

For my two other US Bank cards, I allow all categories of expenses to be eligible for RTR and redeem at 1 cent per point.  This allows me to work around the minimum $25 cash redemption.  I average about 1 redemption every month on each card.

[G2244]

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@NoHardLimits wrote:

I've also been fortunate with my RTR experiences.  I have my USBAR account setup to only allow for travel category RTR redemptions and it has worked quite well for my hotel stays.  It consistently redeems at 1.5 cents per point when I have enough points to cover the full charge.  I average about 1 redemption every 3-4 months.

For my two other US Bank cards, I allow all categories of expenses to be eligible for RTR and redeem at 1 cent per point.  This allows me to work around the minimum $25 cash redemption.  I average about 1 redemption every month on each card.

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Same on the settings. I have my RTR set to only trigger on travel (were I will get the max value of 4.5% cash back). Once doing that it has worked when I needed it to (a few times a year). My biggest wish for an improvement to this card would be an easier and more reliable method to get the cash back. I agree, the ideal would be to be able to just apply to a charge of your choice once it posts. Still, the value I get from the card makes all the hoop jumping and IT issues still worth the trouble.

To the OP, no idea why Southwest would not trigger it. That has worked for me in the past - of course as long as you have the cash back to cover the charge.

[Anonymous]

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@G2244 wrote:

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To the OP, no idea why Southwest would not trigger it. That has worked for me in the past - of course as long as you have the cash back to cover the charge.

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And I think you need the full amount, i.e. as if it was redeeming at 1 point = 1 cent, even though in the end it redeems at 1.5cpp.   Probably another IT issue that they never bothered to address!  (If I have the correct points for the actual redemption, I shouldn't be blocked because I don't have the points for a non-existent redemption!)

[UncleB]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@G2244 wrote:

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To the OP, no idea why Southwest would not trigger it. That has worked for me in the past - of course as long as you have the cash back to cover the charge.

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And I think you need the full amount, i.e. as if it was redeeming at 1 point = 1 cent, even though in the end it redeems at 1.5cpp.   Probably another IT issue that they never bothered to address!  (If I have the correct points for the actual redemption, I shouldn't be blocked because I don't have the points for a non-existent redemption!)

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I've been able to redeem points before when only having enough points for a 1.5ccp redemption.  I know their IT can be squirrelly so my experience might not be the same as everyone else's (the anecdotal reports on this are all-over-the-place).

Also, I have no idea if this helps (or makes any difference at all) but I have my RTR notifications set so that I get a text for any/every purchase on the AR (I think there's a $10 min, but otherwise I get a text for everything).  I admit it's a bit 'extra' and yes, I have to delete the texts after a shopping run, but I've never had an issue with getting a text when it mattered. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Anonymous]

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@UncleB wrote:

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Also, I have no idea if this helps (or makes any difference at all) but I have my RTR notifications set so that I get a text for any/every purchase on the AR (I think there's a $10 min, but otherwise I get a text for everything).  I admit it's a bit 'extra' and yes, I have to delete the texts after a shopping run, but I've never had an issue with getting a text when it mattered. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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That's an interesting idea.  But I wonder if a travel transaction X doesn't currently give me a text, if I turn on all notifications, would I get one for X but really only for 1cpp?   Guess I can try

[UncleB]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@UncleB wrote:

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Also, I have no idea if this helps (or makes any difference at all) but I have my RTR notifications set so that I get a text for any/every purchase on the AR (I think there's a $10 min, but otherwise I get a text for everything).  I admit it's a bit 'extra' and yes, I have to delete the texts after a shopping run, but I've never had an issue with getting a text when it mattered. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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That's an interesting idea.  But I wonder if a travel transaction X doesn't currently give me a text, if I turn on all notifications, would I get one for X but really only for 1cpp?   Guess I can try

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That's a good question.  Sadly (luckily?) I have no data points on that since it's always worked for me as it should. <knocks on wood>

I've considered adjusting my settings so that I only get the text for travel purchases, but since it's working now I figured it's best to just leave it alone.  I usually use points once a year (sometimes less) so if it ever stopped working I would have to start using the 'work-around' to redeem points (not a huge problem, but I'd rather the system work organically).