You're talking about two different things. RFID is inside the card, it's contactless so you just wave it over the reader and you can't see the chip without breaking apart the card.

EMV on the other hand is on the outside, it makes contact with the terminal and the chip is visible on the front of the card.

Example:
http://www.dotup.org/uploda/www.dotup.org1610923.jpg

Ah, thanks for the clarification.....

Seems like my diabolical plan wouldn't work after all. :(

Of course, there's no restraint in just incorporating mag-stripe, RFID, and the EMV into one single card. Just that no US bank is willing to do it. :rolleyes:

And since you're specifically asking about the AMEX, well AMEX Canada is already issuing upgraded hybrid cards while AMEX US is still stuck with the old mag-stripe only cards. So much for American Express, eh? ;)

There are RFID payment terminals in the UK. These work exactly the same as in the USA, no PIN required. However, in my experience the VISA system will not recognize a USA-issued RFID card. I have not tested the MasterCard version.

I don't think we know if the Chase or Wells Fargo chipped cards will also have RFID, do we?

I tried a Mastercard PayPass at a convenience store in South Korea but it didn't work as well.

And indeed, skimming fraud is increasing in the US as the last holdout to continue using aging mag-stripe technology

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...369439712.html

Another example of the problems of not having a chip card in Europe:

I'm in Hungary, rented a car a few days ago, and today was going to park at a small rmountain town's parking lot. It's a typical European get-your-ticket-form-the-machine-and-put-it-on-your-dash kind of pay parking, but only takes two kinds of payment: coins (no bills!) or chip cards. Couldn't use my swipe card, didn't have enough coins, and went around to half a dozen manned kiosks/etc near the parking lot and not a single one would change my 1000 forint bill (the 500 forint bill is the smallest one, and coins go up to 200, so this was equivalent to no one in the US being willing to change a $5 bill).

I thus had to leave the official parking lot (not wanting to risk who knows what kind of fine for not paying), and found a parking space at a nearby non-pay-machine lot where the gate was not working and thus always up. :)

So my credit card company lost out on me charging for the parking, and the parking lot lost out on me parking there and paying, all because of this incompatiblity of a swipe card with a chip-card-only parking payment machine.

So now, to make up for this, I not only have to get cash, but change that cash into who knows how many coins??? (Yikes, I don't know if I'm going to park once at such a parking lot or 25 times on my trip, how to manage all those coins then? Yuck!)

This is also true at the RER station at CDG: no place to get coins, and the machines only take coins or CHIP+PIN cards. I used to *collect* Euro coins at the end of my trip to take home just for this purpose; it's something like 8.5€ into the city, so I'd always start my trip with a bulge of coins in my bag ... as far as I'm concerned, doing anything to get a CHIP+PIN card to avoid this problem is worth it :)

In view of the forthcoming CHIP & SIGNATURE cards from Chase it will be interesting to learn if the "PIN" part is really essential. I'm guessing not.

Silly, Palladium cardholders don't use public transportation. :D

Ticket desks will be happy to accept Euro notes. Some, but not all, of the RER/Métro ticket machines also accept them.

...and to the best of my knowledge, the last time I was in Paris they take the antiquated magnetic strip cards at the ticket windows in both the metro and the RER.

They may well be capable of it but depending on who the staff person is, you may not be able to use it. I've had both Paris Metro and Amsterdam Centraal staff people refuse to swipe my card.

Doesn't solve unmanned terminal issues but here I am in NZ and I happily swipe my card myself in all the EFTPOS readers, hit "CRD" and press "ENTER" when PIN is requested. Then the staff person hands me a receipt to sign. Simple. Australia merchants always ask, "PIN or sign?" I though NZ did too but so far I've been able to swipe the card myself every time so signing becomes the obvious option.