That is far from true. In fact, you said quite the opposite in a separate thread.
If you get around enough, you will nowadays find places that ONLY accept BPCard (or only BPCard or local cash). And I am not talking about self-service here.
The former case is Bronnoysund in Norway for example. The only alternative is to get the RocketRoute App in this case. But no credit card, and not even NOK. It’s even written in the AIP.
The latter case is Hamburg and Innsbruck for example. BPCard or Euros in cash only.
Generally, credit cards are getting hated more and more, because of their steep fees. Maybe in a few years, there will be no more credit cards, only smartphone apps / pay systems.
Then there are self-service stations, where, only the BP card will help you. Without this, you are dependant on staff, their operating hours, their mood and sometimes they will charge you extra for the credit card settlement.
In short: BP and TOTAL fuel cards are cheap insurance (BP is for free, TOTAL is 200€ deposit) and both are easy to get nowadays. In many cases, they will save you a lot of hassle and time over credit card payment. And sometimes even money.
Then there is the German guy who recently flew to Deauville. BP at Deauville doesn’t take any cash any more (can’t fault them, it’s a hassle to deal with). So BP card or credit card. Although he is an aircraft owner, he did not have to the BP card, out of pure latency. Refuelled and then tried all his credit cards. None worked. The reason is that older German credit cards don’t yet support the “offline PIN verification procedure”. But it seems that France has mostly changed from online to offline verification. And the signature fallback procedure has been abolished as well. So, there he was, fuelled up ready to go, but with no way to pay. The airport wouldn’t let him go and he was stuck a long time, until he managed to sort it out through a very lenghty and convoluted process. Will be interesting to see if this problem will come up at more BP airports in France, or only in Deauville. That said, most of the modern credit cards do seem to support the offline procedure by default.
In fact, you said quite the opposite in a separate thread.
Yes, but that was 6 years ago 
And we all speak from personal experience, and I posted mine.
Most businesses can get CC processing for 1.5-2%. Paypal charge my business 2.5%. Any bets on “app” payments being much cheaper? AMEX is expensive but few companies accept it.
I am keeping my AIR BP card (got it changed to ANY aircraft reg, so I can help fill others’ planes on fly-ins) but just haven’t used it for a while.
Refuelled and then tried all his credit cards. None worked. The reason is that older German credit cards don’t yet support the “offline PIN verification procedure”.
Was this because their internet connection was broken? Yeah; that will bugger anybody. On my last trip (Croatia, May 2021) I “lost” two CCs due to stupid back “security” procedures, so had just one left.
How can one “offline verify” a CC?
Generally, credit cards are getting hated more and more, because of their steep fees. Maybe in a few years, there will be no more credit cards, only smartphone apps / pay systems.
I have not seen that, but it’s been the case in Germany since for ever that CCs are disliked in general. Cash rules. Germany was a big driver behind the €500 note
Was this because their internet connection was broken? Yeah; that will bugger anybody. On my last trip (Croatia, May 2021) I “lost” two CCs due to stupid back “security” procedures, so had just one left.
No, they just don‘t do that (verify the PIN online, by connecting to a server) anymore.
How can one “offline verify” a CC?
The PIN is stored on the chip in the card.
And dont forget the “service charge” some places apply if you need a guy to walk out to the BP pump to slot in his card… not mentioned when calling to confirm they accept credit cards during opening hrs – yes, Im looking at you Oreans St Denis LHotel… In factcwasnt there talk of a BP “hook up” fee??
boscomantico wrote:
The PIN is stored on the chip in the card.
Yes, but the PIN is not “given” to the terminal for verification; the terminal asks the chip whether the given PIN is the correct one; that is what enables the chip to lock after three unsuccessful attempts, without any solution except replacing the card. Online verification “lock after three attempts” (or PIN verification from the magnetic stripe… is that still used/present on cards? Not sure.), on the other hand, can be lifted by the bank/payment network remotely.
Peter wrote:
I am keeping my AIR BP card (got it changed to ANY aircraft reg, so I can help fill others’ planes on fly-ins) but just haven’t used it for a while.
Don’t you get challenged for your “need” for it at each renewal?
Not thus far.
Yes; I was aware that the PIN is stored on the card (in the smartcard chip) but is the 3-digit security code stored there as well?
lionel wrote:
Online verification “lock after three attempts” (or PIN verification from the magnetic stripe… is that still used/present on cards? Not sure.), on the other hand, can be lifted by the bank/payment network remotely.
They can, but in my experience they don’t.
Not sure if we are talking about the same thing, but it is normal for CCs to be remotely blocked (by crappy CC company algorithms), generally when in Greece on a holiday, and the t0ssers don’t tell you so you discover it when a payment is declined, and then be remotely unblocked when you waste 2 hours of your day there on the phone to the script monkeys in their call centre.
Whether this ever happens with AIR BP I don’t know but I doubt it since it doesn’t get used for anything apart from fuel (at least in the GA sphere that’s true, I think). One thing which appears sure is that they don’t block it due to low usage.
Guys back to this thread. So finally I got set up with an AirBP account after million questions and forms on their part.
However all the set up information and my Air BP invoice account are set up in German language. It very tricky to navigate and find your way around even using google translation. Is this how Air BP comes or can you get it in English language as well? I’ve sent BP an email too but haven’t heard back yet.
Many thanks
Might be easier and quicker to subscribe to Duolingo then.
I actually just tried changing the language setting in the “myInvoice” portal, and it indeed doesn’t do anything even after I log out and log back in. That whole solution by the way is SAP based, which explains a lot. It’s kind of a pain in the behind that we as pilots have to deal with all these different, incompatible fuel cards instead of just being able to use normal payment cards.
