Westpac Altitude Black - Qantas Frequent Flyer American Express Bundle

Decent card for sign-up bonus - otherwise there are better cards out there – The Westpac Altitude Black Mastercard and AmEx card bundle is a decent credit card bundle but the annual fee is very high compared to many other cards out there. This bundle is comprised of a Black/World MasterCard directly issued by Westpac and a Black AmEx Card Issued by AmEx but with Westpac branding. Therefore there will be two credit checks… Read more

if you apply for the complete bundle (also the two cards will have different online access accounts).

The general points earn rate is good on the Black AmEx card (1.25 points/$) but not that good on the Westpac Mastercard (0.75 points/$ which is lower than many other "Black" tier VISA and MasterCards). Points are swept into your Qantas Frequent Flyer account each month and it is relatively easy to redeem them on flights or other things. The MasterCard also gives you 2 Qantas lounge passes if you buy a Qantas flight with them.

The AmEx card generally has great telephone service while the Westpac Card less so (but is still not bad). I think it is better to use other cards with 0% foreign transaction fees when traveling overseas as these cards do have a fee of up to 3%.

If signing up to this bundle aim for a 120,000 Qantas points sign-up bonus (80,000 on the Mastercard and 40,000 on the Amex) with a reduced annual fee (these promotions usually appear every few months).

Do not get these black cards for 'status', as (thankfully) nobody actually gives a toss about that in real world. It is best to objectively evaluate the benefits provided in the form of points value (+ lounge access etc.) compared to the annual fee you pay.

Overall I say this card is worth applying for if you qualify and can get a good 120,000 points bonus with a reduced 1st year annual fee.

Great! But could be better. Card is ideal except annual fees – Similar to any other card provided by other Financial Service companies, there isn't really any real big difference. I have held this card for 3 years now and admit Westpac is pretty good overall, never had any issues with the services provided - the concierge really isn't worth it for the card offering as I found a cheaper flight than what… Read more

Westpac was able to find online.

The points ratio is alright, though could be better. The only downside was when the split occurred between Westpac bundle and you had to go directly to American Express to obtain the benefits of extra points plus an additional yearly annual fee that was already being charged for the use of the MasterCard with Westpac.

I am considering shaking off the American Express Black and opting in for the Virgin Platinum instead.

The only one gripe I have with Westpac is their disputes procedures, for what I pay annually and the cost of interest throughout the year I found it hard for Westpac to side with me with the clear scams that occur online, unfortunately for me Westpac sided with scammers when I tried to recover $400.

I'd give it an overall 7/10.