October 31
Anecdotal Evidence on Chip & PIN Cards
Take it for what you will. Arrived at Rome Fiumicino Airport (FCO) today aboard a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt. Headed straight for the train station to purchase our tickets to Rome (14 Euros per person). Kiosk asks for credit card. I insert my Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, and the machine immediately asks for my PIN. Ruh roh. I entered my usual PIN (which I know is only good for cash advances, but figured I had nothing to lose), rejected twice. Cancel transaction, and try again.
This time, I insert my new Marriott Rewards Premier Card which includes “Chip and Signature” technology. Machine immediately processes transaction, and prints 2 train tickets. Mrs MJ’s Chip & Signature Hilton HHonors Reserve Visa worked just fine at an airport cafe today as well. Inserted into a card reader, not swiped. Machine spit out a receipt to be signed. I have to wonder how much longer it will be before Chase introduces chip technology for its Sapphire Preferred card product? One would think that a card marketed to people that travel would already have it.
Disclosure: If you apply for and receive a credit card through any of the links in this post, I will receive a referral bonus. As always, I appreciate your readership whether you use my links or not.
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So Chip and Sig is actually Chip and Sig (optional)?
Hard to say…but it sure seemed that way at the train station kiosk.
I should also add (and I updated my post), that Mrs MJ’s experience was that the machine spit out a receipt to be signed. This has been my experience in other locations as well….even in the USA at merchants that have a chip slot equipped card reader.
Be careful when you use your chip and sig in Europe. I was in Ireland in September and they would enter the card and ask if you wanted it in Euros or Dollars. Since these cards have no foreign transaction fees, you should always chose the local currency over your home currency. Some merchants were sneaky and ran it thru in US dollars and they pick the exchange rate, usually 2-3 cents higher than the real rate. So just be careful out there.
Solid advice.
But how was LH F?
Be careful also when you use a credit card that has a foreign transaction fee. My understanding is that, even if the transaction is run in USD, the credit card company many charge the foreign transaction fee because the merchant is located outside of the U.S. Under this scenario, you would be receiving a poor exchange rate AND paying the foreign transaction fee.
Best to use a card with no foreign transaction fee & have the charge run in the local currency.
@gba, it was phenomenal. I will post a full review.
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