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Using an American credit card in European ticket machine can be hell, just ask anyone who's been to Paris and I'm sure you'll get an earful. The big problem is that almost no American chip cards support the Chip + PIN standard . Barclays has a few cards that support Chip + PIN Backup, which enables the card to use a PIN in situations where a signature isn't possible, like automated ticket machines.  New JetBlue card... Right before we began our Tokyo sabbatical, my new JetBlue Barclay card showed up in the mail (I had the JetBlue Amex and they switched providers). I'm happy to report that my JetBlue PIN worked great in the Japan Railway's Shinkansen ticket machine , where my other American chip cards failed (Sapphire, Amex, Skypass). Not all JR machines require a PIN, but as you'll see from the pictures, a bunch of them do.  I learned this when I was in Nagoya for the day without my JetBlue card, and I couldn't find a single machine that didn'...

I'm a big fan of ApplePay. Aside from the obvious cool factor, I love that it's a whole lot more difficult to skim my credit cards when I use them via ApplePay. We've both had our cards skimmed several times in the past decade and we're usually super cautious and know what to look for. The USA is also changing credit card liability laws in October, so lots of places are switching their equipment over to add NFC/ApplePay and EMV chip credit cards. JetBlue just announced that they're going to start supporting ApplePay for in-flight transactions. I'm heading to LAX from JFK next week so I'll have to give it a try and see how it goes.

Credit and debit cards with a chip in them have been the norm in Europe for years. In various travel situations (most notably automatic ticket machines) it can be downright maddening to have a wallet full of cards and none of them work. A few US card issuers started including the chips, but they opted for a slightly different standard called "Chip + Signature", whereby your card is authenticated with the chip, but a traditional signed paper receipt is required to complete the transaction. (NOTE: all of these cards include a traditional magnetic stripe so they can be easily used in the USA). While this helps out quite a bit, it still leaves you stranded at the ticket machines (which work ONLY with Chip + PIN cards). Given that the USA is supposed to completely switch over by October of 2015, it's surprising to me that no major US credit card company has issued a Chip + PIN card until now. When the big commercial travel bloggers got wind of it, they knew EXACTLY what ...

Whenever we travel to Europe, there's always a few instances of what we call "card roulette" — where you're standing at a machine (like, say, a Paris Metro machine that doesn't take cash or coins) and you just start jamming different cards into the machine hoping one of them will work. While many restaurants and shops have swipe readers, there are an inconvenient number of places where you're going nowhere fast without a chip card. I got a British Airways visa card a couple of years ago primarily because it was the only major US card that had the chip, but that's slowly changing over time. Their card is 'chip and signature' (meaning that you still have to sign a piece of paper for the transaction) whereas most European cards are Chip and Pin (meaning that you have to enter a PIN code to complete the transaction.) On our most recent trip, the Paris regional machines (pic) refused my BA card (as well as all my swipe cards), yet the Metro machi...

In November, Chase started offering a free replacement card with EMV chip and signature technology for Sapphire Preferred cardholders in the US. Just call the number on the back of your card and they'll express you a new card along with a mailer to return the old card in (metal doesn't shred very well!) If you don't have a Chase Sapphire yet, please consider using my affiliate link to sign up for one. 50,000 bonus points after you meet the minimum spend, and I get a 10,000 mile referral bonus! I've had one for several years now and the two biggies for me are the double miles on dining and travel , plus it can transfer points to a bunch of places that my Amex can't: United Airlines, Korean Air, Southwest and Amtrak . Our 2015 F irst Class trip to Asia happened largely because of this card.  UPDATE:  Barclays now offers  a USA credit card with Chip+PIN functionality!