Mediahound

Interesting. I only used this card to get the initial bonus points which I now have. Should I still use this card for travel charges? Or, should I just redeem my points and forget about this card?

iahphx

This is disappointing but, realistically, what are you going to do? For airline ticket purchases, it still is the best "rebate."

My only advice is to use and burn, and not save the points for a rainy day.

This is, of course, the problem with an opaque award chart such as this one.

BigEdInVancouver

I had huge misery with getting the signon bonus and they are truly unprofessional---I snickered when I read another poster suggested writing to the powers that be. I tried that. These people do not respond. They just don't care.

On the plus side, their not caring about things may work in your and my favor. 'nuff said... :-)

(If anyone wants to exchange loopholes regarding the card or Maritz , their booking agent, please PM me.)

nabeelj

I finally had some time to analyze this a bit:

So, first things first, where did I get my 1.6c value? Specifically, from three places:

1. PenFed Premium Rewards T&Cs give examples of redemption values, all of which come to 1.6c per point.
2. 5-10 tests (several months ago) of comparing simple flights to Travelocity and Expedia. I mostly compared AA and UA flights from YYZ and ORD to random cities. I got a valuation very close to 1.6c per point almost every time.
3. The program requires you to pay a minimum of 75% of the first ticket by points. If you try to pay cash for the 25% or for additional tickets, you quickly figure out the cost of the flight. Doing this several months ago resulted in a valuation of 1.6c per point.

Now, #1 hasn't changed, but #2 and #3 now result in 1.25c per point.

As such, 1-(1.25c/1.6c) = ~22% devaluation.

iahphx

Ironic that they're running a 25% "bonus" promo for the Holidays.

I wonder how they're paying for that.

frank_10b

Can you do one way redemptions on their site or it only possible to do roundtrips?


really its such a sad story that they took such a good card and ruined it and by being so sneaky about it.
I don't have the gas card but it seems interesting what is going to happen to that....
penfed is no NFCU !

Mediahound

What's going to happen with that card? I haven't heard anything.

iahphx

I just got an email of this promo. I'm sure it's good for all cardholders.

So what is a "point" now worth if you buy an airline ticket entirely with points: 1.25 cents or 1.6 cents?

Regardless, this would still be about the best rebate for dining during the promo period.

Dr_wanderlust

10,000 points earns a $100 gift card at Fairmont, American Airlines, Hyatt, Marriott, Hertz, and many other travel related companies. I've seen the value using the points for travel vary between 1.2 cents to 1.8 cents (seems to vary on what/when you are trying to book). With the earning rate of 5 points per 1$ on airfare, it is my primary card for buying airfare. I often stay at Fairmonts so the gift card option has been good to me. Last year I bought more than 25K in airfare on this car; much of this was for travel my employer reimbursed me for.

The 3 points for dining promo (which I just was notified of for 2.1-4/30 2012) is just so-so compared to the 5% dining cards out there (e.g., CITI forward).

sargenet

I also keeping wondering if I will make any changes to using this card for dining with the 3%. I still have 33K in my account and usually only use this card sometimes at Costco. I guess I haven't figured out what I really want to use the points for! Right now I think I can get more from the 2% dine on my Sapphire since I can transfer that out. I get frustrated at the limited amounts of hotels that I can book rooms at. We have a 10 trip to Hawaii to 2 islands and there are such a limited amount of hotels...and the rates are high!


I had a conversation with Pen Fed last month when they sent me a letter about changing my cash back card to the new points program (5% gas, 3% groceries and 1% everything else.) I was told they have hired a new company to manage their rewards program and that this new company will also be managing the awards for the Pen Fed Am Ex. I was told this is to take place Feb 1st. So I keep logging in to see if there are any new rewards! I am hoping that the new company will provide better options!

Dr_wanderlust

I just used the Fairmont gift cards I received from the Penfed card at the Kea Lani on Maui ^

sargenet

I bet that was sweet! My issue is that now I might have family coming over too and I need to switch over to a condo instead of a hotel! It frustrates me when I see a rate of $300 on the Pen Fed site and then a $200 rate on the hotel's site. And that isn't a prepaid rate. Same thing is happening to me with my Sapphire points. Sure I can get a $600 room for only 49K points...but if I booked it straight with the hotel it is only $490.

I have managed to use points from Pen Fed for a Budget gift card and also for a one way flight. 10K points for a $160 flight. Might end up using them for inter-island flights for my family if need be. I just get frustrated with the fact that I can't find a good value in using them for hotels other than gift cards....

nabeelj

1.25c per point, consistenly. You can confirm this by looking at #3 in my post above from November.

iahphx

Thanks. So we now get an effective 6.25% rebate on airline tickets and -- due to the short term promo -- a 3.75% rebate on restaurants for the next few months.

Given that there's no annual fee, it's worth having the card, but there's no reason to use it other than when buying airline tickets or taking advantage of the periodic promos.

leonard016

This is bad news. They even did not bother to change the T&C. Or do you think this is a glitch that can be fixed?