A friend who is just back from Germany, Austria, and Hungary reports that she was able to use her swipe-and-sign cards almost everywhere. Ticket vending machines were the exception, although there was also one exception to the exception.

I've found that it's sometimes necessary to tell a cashier that the card has no chip. I had one place -- the rail ticket desk in Gatwick Airport -- where the ticket agent still couldn't make it work, or wouldn't. London Transport could accept it at a ticket window.

Some American banks are issuing chip-and-sign cards instead of chip-and-PIN. These don't work in vending machines, either.

I've been trying to have one my my existing cards changed to chip-and-pin but the answer from the banks is that I don't spend enough to warrant the extra cost of issuing the card.