Executive Summary -
This section of our review looks at what the FlexPerk® points can be redeemed for and what is the value of these points. It turns out that you get the best bang for the buck when you redeem it for airline tickets.
As we mentioned in our introduction, one of the key highlights of this card is that you can more value for your points (or Flexpoints as they call it) if you redeem them for airline tickets. You can also redeem them for other things like merchandise, gift cards, which are part of most standard reward programs.
The best way to explain the redemption for airline tickets is to actually look at the chart.
Before we continue, we should look at the point system of a typical reward program. Most will give you a value of 1%. That means that for a $400 airline ticket, you will require 40,000 points. As you can see from the chart on the left, the FlexPerk program requires less points. For a $600 ticket, you merely require 30,000 points. If you look carefully at the redemption value, it shows that consumers can get a maximum of 2% in value from their reward points if they redeem it for airline tickets.
You are not guaranteed a 2% return though as the prices of your airline tickets aren't exactly going to fall nicely in the bucket presented in this table. For example, you may wish to buy a $250 ticket. In this case, you will get less than 2% for your points but slightly more than 1%, which is better than a typical reward program.
The travel portal which you will be booking your tickets are powered by Travelocity.
Aside from airline tickets, you can also redeem also points for hotels, car rentals and cruises. But as you can see from the second screen shot, the points redemption value for non-airline travel is similar to other programs. You get a 1% return (ie 100 points get s you 1% in value). According to US Bank, hotel partners include Fairmont, Hyatt, Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton. Car rental partners include Avis, Budget and Hertz. In fact, since their portal is powered by travelocity, most hotels, car rentals and cruises would be available.
You can also redeem points for cash back. Actually, the cash back has to be redeemed in the form of a statement credit. The redemption rate is 1% and is in line with cash back cards. Hence, though this is supposed to be a "travel rewards" card, it actually also functions as a cash back card! In fact, we could view this as a hybrid cash back travel rewards card.
Table Of Contents
Before we continue, we should look at the point system of a typical reward program. Most will give you a value of 1%. That means that for a $400 airline ticket, you will require 40,000 points. As you can see from the chart on the left, the FlexPerk program requires less points. For a $600 ticket, you merely require 30,000 points. If you look carefully at the redemption value, it shows that consumers can get a maximum of 2% in value from their reward points if they redeem it for airline tickets.
Aside from airline tickets, you can also redeem also points for hotels, car rentals and cruises. But as you can see from the second screen shot, the points redemption value for non-airline travel is similar to other programs. You get a 1% return (ie 100 points get s you 1% in value). According to US Bank, hotel partners include Fairmont, Hyatt, Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton. Car rental partners include Avis, Budget and Hertz. In fact, since their portal is powered by travelocity, most hotels, car rentals and cruises would be available.
You can also redeem points for cash back. Actually, the cash back has to be redeemed in the form of a statement credit. The redemption rate is 1% and is in line with cash back cards. Hence, though this is supposed to be a "travel rewards" card, it actually also functions as a cash back card! In fact, we could view this as a hybrid cash back travel rewards card.