. Have credit card payments become more accepted now or should I apply for a card ?
Well, slowly, self-serce credit card pumps are becoming more common. But they are still very few and far between.
Generally, where the is staff, you can always pay with credit card. It‘s those places without staff that the fuel cards still really are important.
Mogas preferably, UL91 or 100LL otherwise.
Still very few offical mogas pumps in France. Lognes, Toussus and Cuers are probably not ideal for your route.
UL91 is a bit more common than mogas.
Is Total more widely used that AirBP ?
Yes, total still has a bigger share than BP.
Super thanks for your help, sounds like I best order a card so.
boscomantico wrote:
Well, slowly, self-serce credit card pumps are becoming more common. But they are still very few and far between.
@boscomantico, what’s your take on bank card/other card use share in France? Is it 30% bank card / 70% other card? Or 20% / 80%?
What is a bank card and what is a other card?
boscomantico wrote:
What is a bank card and what is a other card?
Bank card is debit or credit card, and the other card would be BP or Total or …
Ok. Again, it can‘t really be expressed in percentages, because it depends on whether staff is present.
In short, anyone flying in France frequently should get these two cards. Those who only fly to PPF airfields (which tend to be the „bigger“ and more staffed ones), which tend to be UK pilots of course, can usually get slong wothout them. But those who like to travel around within the country and those who can do A/A (ideally in French) should defo have them.
Four airfields that (AFAIK) take „bank cards“ directly at the pump: Montbeliard, Darois, Aubenas, Aix. There will be a few more but not that many.
In the small airfields where the club is responsible for the fuel it is a good idea to have cash. Many clubs would lose money if they took credit cards. If they have Avgas they will have had the pumps for some time, often before the advent of self service Total pumps.
The OP wrote that they will be flying ULs but don’t mention whether or not they will be using Bass ULM fields.
johnnyirvine wrote:
a group of ULM
and Mogas preferably? Forget those d**n fuel cards. Take some fuel bags along in case you don’t find empty canisters on the hopefully small airfields you’ll visit. The UL type of fields are friendly everywhere, France certainly included, and chances are you’ll find someone helping you out.
Another thing I’m looking out when choosing where to set down, is the proximity of the next (car) fuel station.
What would be helpful is a map showing which fields, if any at all, do provide Mogas… @gallois ideas?
I m still learning about the best way to get the UL95 when travelling. Most seem to do as you do and carry fuel bags or expandable canisters (I don’t know what they are called.). Some seem to have a way of transferring the BasULm and other airfields to Google maps and where you can see and measure the distance to the nearest fuel station. When I am on my own I carry some empty 10litre plastic fuel bidons (canisters?) and often one of the members of a club or the field owner will drop me off at the nearest fuel pumps and bring me back again for the price of a cup of coffee and a chat. I only use 10 litre bidon because of the difficulty of lifting a 20 litre jerry can high enough to siphon the fuel into the Super Guépard.🙂
I can’t see many BasULM fields installing fuel pumps as they just don’t have the traffic.
The next size level up would probably be the grass strips like Couhé Verac LFBV and Ste Pierre d’Oleron LFDP
which I believe have 100LL and SP98. IMO the 100LL might well disappear from LFBV and others like it at these fields as there just isn’t the demand, whereas LFDP gets a lot of GA tourism in summer and have enough Avgas sales to make it worth keeping for a while.
At LFFK we have let our 100LL pump go as it was too expensive to repair or replace. The club switched to diesel and installed a pump just for it’s own aircraft. We also bought, in conjunction with the gliding club a 300litre UL95 bowser on a trailer for the glider tow and our SG.
The problem is installing and maintaining fuel pumps of any sort is just very expensive and most airfields have so little in terms of sales to passing traffic that they would never pay for themselves.
There has got to be a better way for the future but I am not sure what that is other than finding a sponsor.
