Originally Posted by
kngspook
Seriously considering switching now, though, since I'm getting impatient and I'm reasonably confident I can manage in Europe without a chip for a bit.
I highly advise against switching one for the other.
My past experience with a chip-less card in Belgium and the Netherlands was too much of a hassle. If you decide to eat out, restaurants have the right to refuse a chip-less card as they did for me in the past. And good luck trying to convince them otherwise if you don't have a commanding fluency in Flemish or Dutch. Too much of a pain and not worth the hassle.
VISA and MC have agreements with merchants that they can refuse them because if the non-chip card is fraudulent, they (the restaurant) has to eat up the cost. And the same agreement is making its way to the US too; go with the chip, be prepared for the chip, or you pay the cost of fraud.
Get the Sapphire, but
keep the chip card as your backup. When the merchant accepts your Sapphire, then it's all good. But when the merchant refuses your Sapphire, make no hassle about it and just whip out the card with the chip. Then you're covered in both angles.
Better to have a backup plan than being in a situation without one. If you don't want to pay for the annual fee for the JP Select card, there are several no annual fee chip card options out there now by BofA and other credit unions that you can have as the ideal EMV chipped backup card.