Yeah, I think there's been some recent discussion on this. They used to provide additional value booking airline tickets -- much like Citi's Thank You rewards program -- but they slowly and quietly devalued that, and then they just fixed it at a penny a point.

It does make the PenFed programs less attractive but, in their defense, they have a better gift card selection than Citi. So excluding bonus earning opportunities (ie, Citi's lucrative Preferred 1-year bonus categories for new sign-ups), Citi is better for air travel and PenFed is better for gift cards.