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Best Cash Back Credit Card For AvGas?

DanH

DanH

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There are some good "everything" cards with cash back in 2% ballpark, but others advertise higher return rates in the "gas stations" category. Calling customer service to inquire if the typical FBO or city airport self-serve is a "gas station" is probably an exercise in frustration. Anyone have personal experience with a high rate cash back card for buying avgas?
 
DanH said:
There are some good "everything" cards with cash back in 2% ballpark, but others advertise higher return rates in the "gas stations" category. Calling customer service to inquire if the typical FBO or city airport self-serve is a "gas station" is probably an exercise in frustration. Anyone have personal experience with a high rate cash back card for buying avgas?
Click to expand...

I’m watching this one as well, but in the “fine print” for all of mine it does state that aviation gas is not part of
The discount.
 
I use the Costco Citibank card. It gives 4% back on gas purchases.

As you mentioned, however, the bigger question is whether the credit card company recognizes the vendor name as a fuel purchase. My home airport recently switched to Van Aire Skyport Fuel and now my rebate card works. Before, it was a more generic "Van Aire Skyport Corporation" and it didn't work. I've run into the same thing at a municipal airport where the vendor is "City of Steamboat Springs."

I'll also be following this thread to see if there's some way around this issue.
 
RWoodard said:
I use the Costco Citibank card. It gives 4% back on gas purchases.

As you mentioned, however, the bigger question is whether the credit card company recognizes the vendor name as a fuel purchase. My home airport recently switched to Van Aire Skyport Fuel and now my rebate card works. Before, it was a more generic "Van Aire Skyport Corporation" and it didn't work. I've run into the same thing at a municipal airport where the vendor is "City of Steamboat Springs."

I'll also be following this thread to see if there's some way around this issue.
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I also use the Cosco card and never thought to check if it recognized avgas purchases however the newer self serve 100LL pump systems recognize my N number when I insert the card so it is being tracked somewhere. I will have to check to see if I get the rebate.
 
DanH said:
There are some good "everything" cards with cash back in 2% ballpark, but others advertise higher return rates in the "gas stations" category. Calling customer service to inquire if the typical FBO or city airport self-serve is a "gas station" is probably an exercise in frustration. Anyone have personal experience with a high rate cash back card for buying avgas?
Click to expand...
I have a Chase card that codes anything from my local FBO as "gas" but because it doesn't have an accelerator on fuel it comes in at the base 1.5% rate. So I can't say that a different card that treats gas differently would offer a larger rebate.

One data point only.
 
The AOPA World Master Card gives 2% on aviation fuel AND car gas, 3% on AOPA partner purchases (Sportys, SeriusXM, etc), and 4% on select AOPA purchases, like AOPA insurance. 1% on everything else.
 
RWoodard said:
I use the Costco Citibank card. It gives 4% back on gas purchases.
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Me like. That's the goal. I have a "2% on everything" card, but like Oliver Twist, I want some more.
RWoodard said:
As you mentioned, however, the bigger question is whether the credit card company recognizes the vendor name as a fuel purchase. My home airport recently switched to Van Aire Skyport Fuel and now my rebate card works. Before, it was a more generic "Van Aire Skyport Corporation" and it didn't work. I've run into the same thing at a municipal airport where the vendor is "City of Steamboat Springs."
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Hmmm. Fuel at 08A would be billed "City of Wetumpka". Good point!
 
Mike S said:
Wonder if AOPA or EAA has a card that would fit the bill?
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The OLD AOPA BofA "My Rewards" Visa had / has 3% cash back on fuel purchased. I have used it for decades and have gotten 3% cash back on AvGas and all my fuel purchases. It has been over a decade since AOPA switched to another card but I did not change to the new card and still get 3% cash back.
 
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I’ve been using the Costco Citi card with decent luck over the years. Seems like a 50/50 chance at most avgas self serve pumps that the transaction is classified as a “Automated Gas Dispenser” when it is processed by the CC company and that is what allows the 4% back in lieu of the lesser 1%.

Started posting FBO comments in ForeFlight to help me remember and hopefully others know in advance. Believe it only works for SS; not FS gas.

So maybe 2% off all transactions would be more reliable. But it’s kind of nice when you hit the 4% discount stops!
 
From the Costco Visa "Non-qualifying gas purchases include fuel used for non-automobile purposes", I dont know how they check that.
 
As many have illustrated, rewards for avfuel purchases can be hit and miss. It all ties back to the Merchant Category Code (MCC) the fuel provider's credit card processing account is set up under (that's how your credit card provider knows if your purchase qualifies for rewards). If your local government owns the airport and provides the fuel, their MCC on their credit card processing account can be something totally unrelated to fuel or aviation, thus no fuel rewards.

Might be more than you wanted to know, but at least now you know how the game works...
 
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Just checked my Costco card for a recent fill up at a local city airport and it was coded as "service station" so as noted it depends on how it is classified.
 
My Costco card seems to get me 4% on all the fuel I buy and I check my statement every month. 100LL, diesel, "cheap" car gas, and 87 ethanol free I run in the plane/tractor/mower/chainsaw. That all adds up in a hurry. Saved a bundle on cross country trips whether flying or driving.
 
Big fan of the Costco card. Cash back trumps rewards or points but to each his own. Screenshot below of categories. As others have said, the card isn’t going to matter regarding aviation fuel.

That said, we have a second card that never leaves the house. All of the automated payments for internet, utilities, etc. comes from this one.

If and when the everyday card gets compromised, we don’t have to do the long dance of resetting long forgotten passwords and changing all of the accounts for the new cc info.

IMG_9578.jpeg
 
TajMahal said:
As many have illustrated, rewards for avfuel purchases can be hit and miss. It all ties back to the Merchant Category Code (MCC) the fuel provider's credit card processing account is set up under (that's how your credit card provider knows if your purchase qualifies for rewards). If your local government owns the airport and provides the fuel, their MCC on their credit card processing account can be something totally unrelated to fuel or aviation, thus no fuel rewards.

Might be more than you wanted to know, but at least now you know how the game works...
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Not at all; this is exactly what I wanted to know. I’m gonna talk to the local FBO manager now and see if they might be willing to change the Merchant Category Code so I can get my 4 percent!
thanks!
 
For those that use their RV for business and it’s in the company name, there are several Fuel programs that do provide discount.
 
Current fuel charges from the City of Wetumpka appear on my current card as "Approved Gas Purchase", so I guess the MCC is suitable.

Take a look at the U.S. Bank Altitude Connect Visa Signature Card. They're offering 4% on fuel, hotels, airline, and rental cars. Seems like the right card for an RV driver. There is a $95 annual fee after the first year, but you can get a $500 sign up bonus for spending $2000 in the first 120 days. Easy enough, the practical result being no annual fee for six years.
 
Not to thread hijack, but the topic is largely about saving money on fuel.

Here in Wenatchee I can buy fuel at the FBO or I can buy it off airport at Wenatchee Petroleum. The off airport price is nearly 1.50/gal cheaper and I already own a 77 gal fuel transfer tank that I used for mogas before I moved here.

Now I don’t bother with mogas because 100LL is only $0.40/gal more.

Moral of the story is to check some fuel distributors and see if you can buy it off airport for cheaper.
 
DanH said:
There are some good "everything" cards with cash back in 2% ballpark, but others advertise higher return rates in the "gas stations" category. Calling customer service to inquire if the typical FBO or city airport self-serve is a "gas station" is probably an exercise in frustration. Anyone have personal experience with a high rate cash back card for buying avgas?
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I use the 2% Citi Cashback card. I know it's only 2% but:
No annual fees.
No everchanging categories.
No poring over your monthly statement to verify your FBO is in the netwok and has added the extra point(s).
My card is a Mastercard, so it's good everywhere, except Costco.
 
erich weaver said:
Not at all; this is exactly what I wanted to know. I’m gonna talk to the local FBO manager now and see if they might be willing to change the Merchant Category Code so I can get my 4 percent!
thanks!
Click to expand...
Good luck. Moving to a merchant category code that gives greater discounts will almost certainly result in the merchant paying a higher transaction fee to the credit card company. They won't want to do that just so you can get a discount.
 
The new AOPA card is lame, I liked the old one from years ago, read the fine print on the new AOPA card, the cash back limits are low and most AvGas purchases will exceeded the quarterly limit. (Also it does not recognize every avgas purchase because the way some of the smaller airports name their credit processing provider, they use them for multiple entities such a small cities and counties/parishes for Louisiana) You also have to jump through hoops to get the cash back, on AOPA. Many other cards have no limit for cash back and offer 2% on everything. Synchronies DBL cash back card, credit is automatically issues each month. CITI has a Dbl Cash Card, however you have to manually apply the credit from time to time. EAA does not have a card at this time.
 
I use a Chase Southwest Airlines credit card.
It's not "cash back" but as a 25 year GA Pilot, I've found that one never knows when they might need a commercial flight home and/or back out to pick up an airplane.
Just an option. It's good to have options.
 
This seems like a lot of maneuvering for a meager return. Let’s say you found something with 3% instead of 2%. Unless you’re buying $100,000 worth of AVGAS annually I’d say this is kinda silly. Even then you’re looking at getting $1,000 after spending enough on fuel that you’ve taken an engine from zero time to 2000 hr TBO in a year. $1,000 is petty insignificant at that point.

In all practicality you’re probably going to fly 100 hours and you’re going to spend 5k on fuel and see $50 with that extra 1%. Make sure you pay it before the end of the month or there goes your $50.

Meanwhile adding a new CC to your list of accounts can make your credit score better or worse.
 
ATC_RV8OR said:
This seems like a lot of maneuvering for a meager return.
Click to expand...

Yes, but you do know how copper wire was invented, right?

ATC_RV8OR said:
In all practicality you’re probably going to fly 100 hours and you’re going to spend 5k on fuel and see $50 with that extra 1%.
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Some posts ago I mentioned a bank card with a 4% rebate on fuel and a $500 bonus for signing up. However, there was a $95 annual fee after the first year. Well, as it turned out, they subsequently cut the rebate rate slightly, but dropped the annual fee...after I got the $500. So, since March, I'm ahead $700 or more on that card.

My other card has topped $1000 for the year. If you have good credit, why not play the game?
 
Every January, Costco cuts me a check for $1200-$1500 for using their card and I’ll get a couple of free flights on Southwest from the automatic payments CC; all basically for free since we would have spent the related money anyway. To summarize DanH, why not.
 
bank america offers cards that allow you to pick one area for 3%. i have a card for fuel-3% and another one for eating out 3%.
 
I've always been skeptical of the cash-back cards as they've been a disappointment to me in the past. Instead, I have a Delta Reserve AMEX card. It has a rather steep annual fee, but accumulates Delta Skymiles dollar-for-mile as well as status-qualifying miles, and provides other perks such as Skyclub access, regional 1st class upgrades, and companion certificates....IOW not just an airline miles card. All-in-all, the Reserve card provided me with stuff that was far more useful and cost-effective (to me) than cash-back money would have been. Since I retired a couple of years ago I don't fly commercial near as much as I used to so the cost-effectiveness of the card is now suspect and I'm guessing that the returned value has gone over to the negative side. But depending on how much one flies Delta, it can be a useful choice.

We do have a Costco VISA card that provides 4% back on Costco gasoline and 2% on Costco purchases. My wife tells be we get a little money back on that every so often. I'm sure we could get more but Costco gasoline isn't really convenient from a location standpoint as well as the occasionally impressive lines at the pumps.
 
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I read (on a VAF forum IIRC) that the merchant category code (MCC) for the airport fuel station/fuel service truck has to be coded as 5542, which is for automated fuel dispensers. Talk to your airport managers and get them to change the billing code if you aren’t getting 4% cash back. Everyone who pays for AVGAS should be making sure that happens.
 
hgerhardt said:
I have a Citi Costco card which pays 4 or 5% back for mogas, but never been able to apply that to avgas.
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I know with the "higher" price of gas using the Citi Costco card is worth it but be aware once you go over 7k of purchases it gets kicked down to 1% so hopefully have a different card to use after that. (It's easy to exceed 7k a year in gas purchases in today environment, I even have an electric car as my primary vehicle)

Screenshot 2026-05-31 190527.png
 
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