Here in Australia a manned fuel pump or fuel truck is really a luxury so we all go around with fuel cards, but most automatic fuel pumps accept credit cards anyway. The concept of an FBO is virtually unknown here. There are airports that serve an area the size of Scotland whose terminal building is little more than a tin shed. If I dig up some photos I’ll post them on my blog.

Pat: I think to a great extent one expects France to be difficult. :) Also the people regularly flying through / across are likely to carry relevant fuel cards and probably don’t often end up with difficulty. But I did consider that we could be stranded until Monday opening hours simply due to having the wrong cards!

Matthew: I have to admit, it’s hard to get too upset at extra flying and pretty views. We tend to avoid the bigger airports because of the run-around and having to wait on commercial traffic. The small airports are “usually” better. Having said that, La Rochelle had us taxi straight into the pumps and we were able to pay there – no hassle at all (possibly because we were a France to France flight?)

I found refuelling at La Rochelle a real nuisance. IIRC I had to go through arrivals and departures two or three times to deal with the payments. I hope it worked better for you.

Flying in France often seems like an exercise in Zen patience. I remember flying into Troyes one mid-week afternoon and Paris had me hold about ten miles from the field for a while. When I asked why it turned out that there was noone in the tower at Troyes because they’d all gone for lunch. In the end I landed and called Paris control on the radio from the ground and they closed my flight plan.

Even at big airports in France, you often get the run-around. At Cannes, they took 30m to dig up my flight plan then gave me a SID that wasn’t in Jeppesen so it had to be impatiently dictated over R/T for five minutes and then the moment I took off they had me fly vectors anyway.

Sometimes, I think they just like playing with us! :)

On the other hand, I love France, the French people and their way of life. And they have so many beautiful airports and such a love of aviation. Also, I have had some fantastic, friendly experiences at other French airports including a ride in a fire truck at Deauville. Also French airports are generally inexpensive in terms of landing fees. I fly to Holland a lot and the airports there are generally briskly efficient but horribly expensive.

Glad you all found your way to a pump that accepted your cards!

Oh, and one more tip. A group of colleagues (5 of them) once wanted me to bring them to Reims for a meeting, in a Saratoga. With 6 on board it was not possible to fly both legs without refueling there. Reims Champagne airport has some airline traffic and fuel service. But only JET-A1 !