Fuel Cards

[T-DOGGIN]

Looking for some info on the pro's and con's of fuel cards. Which ones give the best benefits and discounts. We are currently flying 2 jets and a turboprop mostly DC, VA, FL, AZ, UT.....Out of the MidWest. We are currnetly using one that the owners and employees get to fill up their cars with the points.

 

[HawkerF/O]

That's nice and all that some folks get to put gas in their cars, but Iwould look at the bigger picture. You get to throw 40 bucks inyour car every couple of weeks or so, but I dont think those perkswould outweigh the savings you could get by using other cards. Iwould suggest UvAir and Colt to get started with. If you arelooking for discounts only, stay away from Multi-service. Thereis NO benefit whatsoever to using MS. THey bill you every 2 weeksand I have never seen anyone offer discounts by using them. Themanagement reports are nice, but that's about it. Also with MS,it is accepted just about everywhere, so that can be handy aswell. UVair (division of Universal) can really come through attimes. I know at Atlantic in Chicago (MDW), they are a wholedollar cheaper than anyone else, and that says a lot. Other timesthey are not competitve at all. What I don't like about UVair isthat they send you one big bill at one. What i mean by that is Ifyou use Universal to fly to The Grand Cayman and in the same month yougo to MDW and get fuel, they lupm all that on the bill together and itis not broken down very well so you are having ot always call and havethem go over it with you line by line to figure out what is what. It would be nice if they billed you by trip or at least broke it downlike that. Colt is simple, stright forward and to thepoint. They have a great reward program as well. One lastthing, don't forget you can always haggle with the FBO over the upliftand price. Get an AMEX card, and if they are unwilling to move ona fuel price, inform them that you are going to pay with the AMEXcard. If it's the Manager you are dealing with, that will make adifference. AMEX get something like 6% of the sale, so theytypically don't like to take that card. Be advised, if youthreaten to pay with the AMEX card, he might call your bluff, so if yousay you are going to, then do it.

 

[jergar999]

Check into contract fuel services from the large companies as well. The company I work for has an into plane contract with Conoco Phillips. We pay for the fuel at cost, plus so many cents a gallon flowage (I'm not sure what the flowage fee is). If nothing else, a corporate Discover will give you cash back for the fuel you buy.

 

[hawkerjet]

I agree with getting credit with a contract fuel source. We use, Colt,Bluestem, Phoenix, Best Air, World,UV Air. Good Luck

 

[Capthuff]

We just started using Mariah contract fuel. It doesn't always save money, like at our regular haunts, but it certainly is cheaper at some places we dont already have a discount with. Last week I was in vegas. We only go there about 4 times a year and Mariah was $3.10/gal and the price on the wall was like $4.60

Cappy

 

[sydeseet]

Contract fuel is nice but not every FBO accepts every plan. We useAVCARD primarily but also carry Colt and BEST. UVAIR seems tobepreferred south of the border. You can never have enough plastic.

 

[jeb]

We currently use Colt international as a primary and Best Aero as the second card. We travel to AZ, NV and Fla. We see the best savings with Colt. They have a web site and I believe you can check their prices

 

[mike1mc]

I sometimes think we are Contract fuel Nazis at my company, but check out these:


WorldFuel (BaseOps) http://www.baseops.com
Mercury Contract Fuel http://www.mercfuel.com
If you're a 91 operator -- Corporate Aviation Assoc (CAA) http://www.corpaa.org
COLT http://www.coltinternational.com
AvFuel Contract Fuel http://www.avfuel.com/commercialContractFuel/commercialContractFuel.asp

We found that BestAero was worthless and that these guys ALWAYS beat their prices. It takes a little more work to find the best deals, but with fuel prices these days, its the only way.