My BP Belgian contract says that if I don’t uplift enough fuel (can’t remember how much) They are allowed to charge something (I can’t remember how much), less than a 100 euros probably.
I took it anyway because it’s so stupid to be stuck at an airfield waiting for the fuel guy to get back from his lunch, then to fuel the low cost flight, etc. and have to stay overnight because you won’t have time to fly back before sunset.
Yes it’s a good idea to get a briefing on how to use the fuel station. You can call at the local aeroclub in France, people will know how to use it. I always call the aeroclub and visit their website before flying to a place. For instance, in Lorient, the local aeroclub website is the only place where they can tell you how to apply for a PPR.
No fixed cost for the BP card.
Re fuel prices between the two, there is not a lot of difference. Last year, I found BP to be few cents cheaper on a couple of occasions. Recently, it has been more the other way around.
The Total card offers the cheaper furl throughout France. How do prices compare with BP? What fixed cost do you incur with BP?
Has anyone seen any evidence that Visa is more expensive than an AIR BP card?
There may be a foreign exchange benefit. CC interest rate conversions are huge ripoffs and, here in the UK, most of them charge several £ per transaction on top (Halifax is one exception). So there could be a few % in that alone.
AirBP have also just bought StatOil’s Scandinavian aviation fuel business , so many (most?) airports in Scandinavia will accept them as well. To be fair, they all seem to accept visa, so it probably doesn’t matter…
I use AIrBP all over France and Germany. Its usability is increasing significantly and it is good for those time UVAir is not taken.
Interesting about AIR BP.
I have had one for about 10 years. Back then some airports took cash only, some only Visa, some only MC, and the AIR BP card was handy in some places (Spain was one) where if you had a company name on it and said “commercial” 3 times in a loud John Cleese voice, you got avgas free of duty and VAT 
That trick stopped working about 8 years ago and works now only if you show them a piece of paper with “AOC” on it.
AIR BP was also useful because the price was set by BP centrally and you were less likely to be ripped off (southern Europe, again…).
Today, every place takes Visa, and I struggle to use mine. I manage to get it accepted maybe once or twice a year. However I recall it was useful at Poitiers last December in an unmanned fuel pump – but nobody could work out how to work the pump (non-obvious, and everything labelled in French) so the fuel man had to come anyway 
There is no annual cost, AFAIK.
The TOTAL card is widely reported as useful in the small French airfields but most of them cannot be flown to/from from the UK so I can’t speak for them.
Yes a BP card is very useful, specifically in Spain. It’s not free though if you don’t use it enough.
BP’s market share is increasing in France (Biarritz & Pau recently). It’s useful in France because there are many unmanned fuel stations, or manned only during French business hours (ie never during lunch time).
BP’s card is international and you can get it wherever you live and use it wherever you go.
La carte AirTotal was de facto only available to French residents until last year. As it’s free even if you don’t use it, don’t hesitate to apply for it. There are many unmanned fuel stations in France. You may land at 3am at an unmanned airfield using pcl, refuel with your carte Total, and continue your trip.
You may also want a BP card if you do not already have one…
You’re mentionning that you use the “carte Air Total”
It’s a must to have in France. It’s free, you just have to place a deposit with them (200 euros for a small plane)
Until last year, you had to have a French bank account to get that card.
Thanks to SEPA you can from now on have it if you have a Euro Account in an Euro Country. It works with Belgium, it should work with Germany, Ireland etc.
