Ackislander

Please do not make categorical statements, Improvisor.

In fact US non chip and pin cards DO work in the LATEST generation of ticket machines for the SNCF system in Paris. They don't work in the old machines.

Mimar

What about the automated toll stations on French highways? Does a chip-less pin-less card work there? It certainly didn't work at the unattended gas stations in Italy when we last tried.

Mimar

Also the proprietor of a small restaurant in an off-the-tourist-track town in Normandy had to be shown how to swipe a credit card. His machine could handle it but he had never had to do it.

xyz123

there have been report that on some (but by no means all) French autoroutes, American credit cards, chipped or chipless do not work. It seems to be on an individual basis of who operates the toll road.

Improviser

Ackis, try learning to read. There is nothing 'categorical' about the word 'preferable'.

That a US card works in one machine is meaningless if it does not work in another machine and THAT is the machine you want to USE it in. The question is what works in ALL machines and the answer is clear, chip and PIN.

Improviser

I will repeat myself.

"Bottom line, chip and pin is preferable if you can get it."

For the reading impared, note the words 'preferable' and 'if'.

Having a non-chipped card or a chip and signature card does not mean you will not be able to use it. It means there will be SOME places where you may not be able to use it. You can always go to a bank and use it to get cash. But that can be a hassle when you want to pump gas on a Sunday afternoon at an unattended gas station somewhere in France (yes they are unattended).

So IF you can, get a chip and pin card.