BP will terminate its partnership with Virgin Australia’s Velocity Frequent Flyer program, choosing to instead partner with Qantas Frequent Flyer.
BP initially sought to end its Velocity Frequent Flyer tie-up in 2017, but was sued by Velocity for a breach of contract. To this day, you can still earn and redeem Velocity points at BP. But this will come to an end when the new BP Rewards program launches in 2020.
Instead of awarding Velocity points on fuel and in-store purchases, BP will soon launch its own loyalty program in Australia called BP Rewards. Qantas Frequent Flyer will be the program’s “cornerstone partner”.
It has not yet been revealed exactly how the BP Rewards loyalty program will work, nor how many Qantas points you’ll be able to earn per dollar spent at BP. But we do know that you’ll be able to earn points on fuel and eligible in-store purchases.
Currently, you can earn 2 Velocity points per litre of fuel or per $1 spent on in-store purchases at participating BP outlets in Australia.
BP promises that “highly-valued, personalised loyalty offers” will form a key part of its new loyalty program. This means we could see more and better targeted offers from BP in the future, like those sent by loyalty programs such as Flybuys.
It is already possible to earn Woolworths Rewards points at Caltex petrol stations, which can be converted to Qantas points. You can also earn Flybuys points, which can be converted to Velocity points, at Shell petrol stations.
Qantas Business Rewards to terminate Caltex StarCard partnership
In addition to the new partnership between BP Rewards and Qantas Frequent Flyer, the airline says that the BP Plus fuel card will become the exclusive fuel partner of Qantas Business Rewards. This will allow small-to-medium businesses to earn Qantas points when filling up at BP.
However, this would mean that Qantas Business Rewards no longer partners with the Caltex StarCard.
Loss of BP a blow for Velocity Frequent Flyer
Back in 2017, Velocity Frequent Flyer argued that the BP partnership was “vital” to its business strategy. So, the loss of BP as a Velocity Frequent Flyer partner will be a further blow to the Virgin Australia Group, which recently posted its seventh consecutive annual loss.
The tie-up between BP and Qantas Frequent Flyer is subject to approval from the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC).
Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: Qantas New Partner – BP
