Originally Posted by Happy

While we have not been in Russia, Poland or where is the language Tagalog is spoken? We have been in all those countries you mentioned, with only our mag strip cards. We have counted less than 6 failures in all those trips. Never have to argue or anything. The cashiers actually know what to do - the failures happened when they either swiped it too fast or too slow. I actually often gestured to them that I, would swipe it on the machine instead of letting them do it - they usually let me and 100% of the time it was a "Voila" the little receipt came out.

We spent almost 3 months in HKG between Jan and Mar. Not a single incident our Chase Sapphire Preferred card is denied, nor the Citi Premier card.

We were in Prague and Italy (Milan, Torino and Rome) in May. I used my cards at every occasion where card was accepted. Never an issue. No need to even speak. At the end I had to stop using the card because I had to spend the $50 Czek currency I got. At the end I still had almost $20 left and spent them all at the little supermarket at the airport. I feel some here are way hyped about the usefulness of the CHIP and PIN cards - yes, they make travel easier, but they are NOT the must haves. Not having them do not mean you would not get going... As for precious time, big deal for the 10-15 minutes if that much.

Honestly, the CHIP and PIN card's value is ONLY at the unmanned spots - the kiosks at train stations, toll booth, gas stations. Anytime there is human interaction, the mag card works just fine.