Qantas plans to commence its partnership with BP petrol stations on 1 February 2020, after the ACCC proposed to approve the tie-up.
As a result, Velocity Frequent Flyer today advised members today that 31 January 2020 will be the last day to earn or redeem Velocity points with BP. Currently, you can earn 2 Velocity points per litre of fuel by swiping your Velocity card at BP petrol stations.
Replacing the Velocity Frequent Flyer partnership, BP will launch its own BP Rewards loyalty program in February 2020. Qantas Frequent Flyer and Qantas Business Rewards will be “cornerstone partners” in the new loyalty program.
Once the BP Rewards program is up and running, you’ll have the option to either earn BP Rewards points or Qantas Frequent Flyer points directly on fuel and in-store purchases from BP. You’ll be able to change this preference at any time.
In assessing the proposal, the ACCC considered that the new partnership between Qantas and BP would be “likely to result in some public benefits from the opportunity for consumers to earn and redeem loyalty points from the programs, enhanced competition in airline and fuel markets for consumers who value loyalty programs, and some transaction cost savings”.
The ACCC will also “allow BP to require BP fuel resellers to participate in the Qantas Frequent Flyer and Qantas Business Rewards programs as a condition of offering new BP reseller agreements or renewing existing reseller arrangements”.
The ACCC has already granted interim approval for Qantas Business Rewards to partner with BP, and is currently completing its assessment of the rest of the application. The ACCC authorisation, if final approval is granted in February next year, will initially be valid for five years.
Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: Qantas New Partner – BP
