Pilot/Flying J Loyalty Program

[racerchaser]

Just returned from the Tampa RV show and thought that I might pass on some info concerning the subject program. Many of you may already be aware of this information as I was told it was in the Good Sam email newsletters.
Pilot/FJ have basically turned over their loyalty program to Good Sam. If you renew your Good Sam card this year you should receive a new "Swipe and Save" card that has a magnetic strip on the back. This card looks like a credit card but it is not. You will be able to use it at Pilot/Flying J just like the current P/FJ loyalty card. However, the devil is in the details. P/FJ will cease honoring their current cards (RV Real Value Club and MyRewards card) on Jan 1, 2015. After that date you have to have a Good Same Swipe and Save card to get P/FJ discounts. If your Good Sam renewal is after Jan 1, 2015 I would suggest that you call Good Sam Customer Service (800-234-3450). They may ask you to extend your current membership. I did not have to do that since my membership runs out to 2016 and they are sending me a couple of new Swipe and Save cards.
After 2014 you will not be able to get a fuel discount at P/FJ unless you have a Good Sam card.

[TexasH]

Another word on the Pen Fed Card...
The "5%" rebate is a little misleading. You get 5 points for each gallon, but not 5% cash back. The rewards are in Visa prepaid cards (or other cards or merchandise), but it takes 11,800 points to get $100. That makes the actual rebate a touch under 4.25% - still a pretty good deal. When I got mine, it was 10000 points for a $100 card. They changed last year. just a way to reduce the reward without changing your points earned.

Also, I'm not a vet, government employee, or any of the other qualifiers. But, when I joined by phone, the representative said I could qualify if I had "ever donated blood to the Red Cross"! All I had to do was open a $5.00 savings account.

[CA_Traveler]

Well as I suspected I got a different story from Pilot. Both the GS Swipe and Save card and the prior Pilot card have the same safe guard built in: you must enter the zip code which largely eliminates the reported drive off problem: ie the card won't start the truck pump without the zip code.

So for fueling in the truck lanes: In AZ the 8 cents/gal truck tax is removed then the 3 cents/gal is subtracted from the cash price.

[Bill_N1]

Got our RV Charge Plus cards today and downloaded the Brochure showing all their stations but was somewhat disappointed to see that more than a few of them only honor the RV Charge Plus cards in the truck diesel lanes and not in gas lanes or in the store.

[koda55]

X2 with Trap. I love the RV Plus Card. Pull in, swipe card, get receipt drive off. End of billing cycle get an email telling how much will be deducted from checking account. We have the 2500 limit because they can deduct with auto pay. We have a 150 gallon tank.

[Trap]

We like the convience of the RV Plus Charge Card. Do not have to go in to prepay, and the discount off of the cash price is nice too. Especially when we're pushing 65' with the toad connected. Just swipe the card once, fill and go.

[BobGed]

CA Traveler wrote:
The PenFed card will give you 5% cash back on any gas or diesel pump where you can swipe the card.

Called Pilot today: The Pilot Frequent Fueler RV card is no longer available. Instead use the Swipe and Save GS card. 😞

Called GS today: The Swipe and Save card is free IF you join GS or extend your membership (for say 1 year). My membership ends in July 2014 and they will not send me a Swipe and Save card until I extend my membership. 😞 The Swipe and Save card does give you 3 cents/gallon off of the price at Pilot but they didn't know if that was off of the cash or credit price. It will also start the truck pump. They also did not know if the 8 cents/gallon AZ truck diesel tax would be taken off of the price since I have a light duty diesel and do not have to pay the AZ truck tax. 😞

Too bad Pilot discontinued its program. To bad GS doesn't know what their card offers including the AZ truck tax and this included the person I talked to and his supervisor.

Can a GS Administrator answer my questions?

I don't believe what GS told you about the Swipe & Save card being able to start the truck pumps is correct. Here is my previous post that I made after speaking with PFJ.

BobGed wrote:
And the rest of the story is the GS "Swipe and Save" card will not have the truck pump start feature. So after Jan 1, 2015 the only card that will start the truck pumps will be the RV Plus charge card. I asked PFJ why they were doing away with the pump start feature, and they said it was because of too many drive offs, but not necessarily by RV'ers. OTR drivers were obtaining the pump start enabled cards, fueling and then driving off.

Since PFJ is no longer issuing their own pump start card (with the exception of the RV Plus charge card) because of the OTR trucker drive off problem, it really wouldn't make much sense to then have that feature activated on a GS Swipe & Save card. OTR truckers would then just simply get a Swipe & Save card.

[CA_Traveler]

The PenFed card will give you 5% cash back on any gas or diesel pump where you can swipe the card.

Called Pilot today: The Pilot Frequent Fueler RV card is no longer available. Instead use the Swipe and Save GS card. 😞

Called GS today: The Swipe and Save card is free IF you join GS or extend your membership (for say 1 year). My membership ends in July 2014 and they will not send me a Swipe and Save card until I extend my membership. 😞 The Swipe and Save card does give you 3 cents/gallon off of the price at Pilot but they didn't know if that was off of the cash or credit price. It will also start the truck pump. They also did not know if the 8 cents/gallon AZ truck diesel tax would be taken off of the price since I have a light duty diesel and do not have to pay the AZ truck tax. 😞

Too bad Pilot discontinued its program. To bad GS doesn't know what their card offers including the AZ truck tax and this included the person I talked to and his supervisor.

Can a GS Administrator answer my questions?

[BobGed]

joanbill wrote:
Now I am really starting to get confused. In mid-December I joined Good Sam after a long period of dormancy. Last week, I got the membership card and it is a Swipe & Save card which has the membership number on it. There was no extra charge (over the membership fee). Last week I applied for the Pilot Flying J RV Plus Card and just received notification today that the card is being mailed out for receipt in 3 to 5 days with instructions on how to activate the card. The letter has a control number and a User ID. There is no mention of any annual charge for the card. So, from what I can determine, the only fee I have been charged thus far is the Good Sam Membership. Are there more charges coming because if there are Flying J can take a Flying Leap.

No, there are no additional charges after you have paid your Good Sam membership fee. The PFJ RV Plus card is free.

Not to further confuse the issue, but if you have a gas rig and fuel all the time at the RV lanes, then you might want to look into acquiring a PenFed card. Either the Platinum Cash Rewards Card or the Platinum Rewards Signature Card that I previous described. The cash or point rewards, plus the Swipe & Save discount are greater than the discount you will receive just using the RV Plus card.

[Bill_N1]

Now I am really starting to get confused. In mid-December I joined Good Sam after a long period of dormancy. Last week, I got the membership card and it is a Swipe & Save card which has the membership number on it. There was no extra charge (over the membership fee). Last week I applied for the Pilot Flying J RV Plus Card and just received notification today that the card is being mailed out for receipt in 3 to 5 days with instructions on how to activate the card. The letter has a control number and a User ID. There is no mention of any annual charge for the card. So, from what I can determine, the only fee I have been charged thus far is the Good Sam Membership. Are there more charges coming because if there are Flying J can take a Flying Leap.

[wny_pat1]

Dutch_12078 wrote:

CA Traveler wrote:
There are many posts on the boards regarding 5% cash back with the PenFed CC. PenFed has multiple cards and the card that is needed for 5% cash back on fuel is the Visa Platinum Cash Rewards.

Given the choice of paying a $25 fee per year or opening a Money Market account for $25 guess which one I choose.

I have a fair amount in my share account, since it pays better interest than bank savings accounts, so I just transferred $25 from that account to a new MMS account to retain my 5%/no fee Visa card. The whole transaction took about 5 minutes online.

And not only the share account, but I purchased a new Honda using their Car Buying Service and financed it with them at .49% APR.

[BobGed]

wny_pat wrote:
And now I am scratching my head :h , sitting here wondering what I read on this forum that made me switch to the Platinum Rewards card??? :S I'm sure someone said something bad about it that made me switch!!! You guys have to stop doing this to me!!! I was already confused before I listened to you guys.

I was probably one of them. 😉 When the reward points card first came out, each point was equal to $.01, which was the same as 1%, and you were earning 5 points, or $.05, on fuel purchases. However that has now been diluted when it comes time to redeem those points for cash cards. At that time you could purchase, for an example, a $50.00 Visa Prepaid Cash card for 5,000 points, or $.01 per point. That same card today requires 5,900 points, so a point now is only worth something like $.0085. The math wizards can correct my calculation if I'm wrong, but it is something else than $.01.

Now after 4/4/14 you will only be earning 3 points on fuel purchases. So comparing the Points to the Cash Rewards card that gives, and will continue to give, 5% off on fuel purchases, it would appear at first blush to be a no brainer that the Cash Rewards card would be the way to go.

But wait. The Cash Rewards card is fuel only. The Points card also awards points for supermarket purchases (now 3 points, after 4/4/14, 2 points), and 1 point for all other purchases (no change after 4/4/14).

So some one like me that only uses their coach for part of the year (I average about 6,000 miles per year with some fuel purchases being made at truck pumps where I can't use the card), purchases groceries at a supermarket, and earns the 1 point on everything else, the Points program, even after 4/4/14, still might work out to be the best deal for me.

This of course could be much different for some one that puts a lot of miles on their coach and possibly purchases the majority of their groceries at something like a military commissary.

I guess it's to each his own to figure out. Just about as much fun as the PFJ/GS programs. 🙂

[Dutch_12078]

CA Traveler wrote:
There are many posts on the boards regarding 5% cash back with the PenFed CC. PenFed has multiple cards and the card that is needed for 5% cash back on fuel is the Visa Platinum Cash Rewards.

Given the choice of paying a $25 fee per year or opening a Money Market account for $25 guess which one I choose.

I have a fair amount in my share account, since it pays better interest than bank savings accounts, so I just transferred $25 from that account to a new MMS account to retain my 5%/no fee Visa card. The whole transaction took about 5 minutes online.

[wny_pat1]

CA Traveler wrote:
There are many posts on the boards regarding 5% cash back with the PenFed CC. PenFed has multiple cards and the card that is needed for 5% cash back on fuel is the Visa Platinum Cash Rewards.

I know - thats the problem!!! I had the Cash Rewards and because of several posts about something changing that we were better off with the Platinum Rewards, so I switched. Now I can't remember why!! And it appears that I would have been better off not switching!!!

[CA_Traveler]

There are many posts on the boards regarding 5% cash back with the PenFed CC. PenFed has multiple cards and the card that is needed for 5% cash back on fuel is the Visa Platinum Cash Rewards.

Given the choice of paying a $25 fee per year or opening a Money Market account for $25 guess which one I choose.

[wny_pat1]

BobGed wrote:
Then they have their Platinum Cash Rewards Card that offers the following:

5% cash back (credited to your monthly invoice) - fuel purchases at the pump by card swipe.

And now I am scratching my head :h , sitting here wondering what I read on this forum that made me switch to the Platinum Rewards card??? :S I'm sure someone said something bad about it that made me switch!!! You guys have to stop doing this to me!!! I was already confused before I listened to you guys.