PenFed Premium Travel Rewards American Express Review
Updated April 11, 2016.
The Facts
The Math
Now the card returns 4.25% for airfare purchases. In the days when airfare redemption option returned 1.6 cent per point, we placed it on our Top List since 8% return on airfare and 1.6% on general spending is pretty awesome. However, the devaluation over the years made us remove it from the Top List.
The Conclusion
4.25% return for airfare purchases is still not too shabby. However, we recommend checking out other products such as Citi ThankYou Premier and Amex Premier Rewards Gold, both returning 3x on airfare and with points transfer feature the value may exceed PenFed's 4.25%.
The Facts
- Annual Fee: None
- Signup Bonus: 20,000 points after spending $2,500 within 3 months of new account opening.
- Application Landing Page
- Rewards: 5x airfare and 1x everywhere else
- Best Use of PenFed Premium Rewards points: You can redeem points for merchandise, gift cards, hotels, or airfare at up to 0.85 cent per point. For quite a while, the most valuable redemption option was airfare at up to 1.6 cents per point. However, throughout the years, PenFed gradually reduced the value of airfare redemption rate from 1.6 to 1.25 to 1.1 to 1 and finally to 0.85 cent per point in 2013. The redemption rate for gift cards has also been reduced from 1 to around 0.8 cent a piece. The most alarming of all was that most of the changes happened without advanced notice.
- Other Benefits: Waived foreign transaction fees with an embedded EMV chip.
- Other Facts: There are a couple of ways of joining PenFed (Pentagon Federal Credit Union) - even if you don't qualify for most options, you can still pay $20 to join National Military Family Association which is open to everyone.
- History: When the card was launched in 2009, it had an annual fee $50 but it was removed later. It also offered 3x on hotels and dining through 2010. However, as suggested in the previous section, the value of PenFed points gradually decreased from an excellent 1.6 to a below-standard 0.85 cent per point in less than 3 years. The feature of earning a free Priority Pass membership plus two free visits after spending $15,000 a year was also removed.
The Math
Now the card returns 4.25% for airfare purchases. In the days when airfare redemption option returned 1.6 cent per point, we placed it on our Top List since 8% return on airfare and 1.6% on general spending is pretty awesome. However, the devaluation over the years made us remove it from the Top List.
The Conclusion
4.25% return for airfare purchases is still not too shabby. However, we recommend checking out other products such as Citi ThankYou Premier and Amex Premier Rewards Gold, both returning 3x on airfare and with points transfer feature the value may exceed PenFed's 4.25%.