Virgin Australia’s Velocity Frequent Flyer arm is taking BP Australia to court as the petrol giant moves to align itself with the competing Woolworths Rewards loyalty program: and by extension, the Qantas Frequent Flyer scheme, in what Velocity claims is a breach of contract.

In documents filed with Queensland’s Supreme Court [PDF, 707kb], it’s claimed that BP’s exclusive partnership with Velocity is contracted to continue until at least April 15 2018 – yet BP is hoping to wind this up much earlier on June 30 2017, or by January 1 2018 at the latest if certain exclusivity clauses are waived.

BP is yet to file its defence, although court papers reveal that the company was displeased with Velocity’s new Flybuys partnership – which allows members to earn Velocity points at participating Coles Express/Shell service stations – and issued Velocity with a ‘notice of default’ that Velocity disputes.

Terminating the partnership would bring an end to earning Velocity points on fuel and convenience purchases at BP service stations, and to using Velocity points to pay for the same items.

The Woolworths Rewards scheme which BP is planning to join provides the equivalent of just 0.435 Qantas Points per dollar spent at petrol stations – 0.5655 Qantas Points per litre of fuel when priced at $1.30/litre – compared to a much more generous two Velocity points per litre on fuel and two Velocity points per dollar spent in-store as currently offered.