[xenocratus]

We took that train, realised when we got to the other end of the line that we hadn't gotten where we expected, then turned back to the place where it separates. Waited for the next advertised train to airport (it's signalled on the electronic board as two separate entries; yes, it says "board whatever carriages for airport, and the rest for ...", or at least I assume it did, as it was in German of course; but again, it literally shows up as two different trains). Train arrives, stays there for a while (it's a big train, so the part in front of us didn't move so we didn't realise it had already separated), then after like 5-6 minutes it leaves. Only as it starts moving I notice that a small electronic board on the side of the carriage said "airport". The notice board then changes and obviously "both" trains disappear.

We were so lucky that we'd decided to go to the airport much earlier than we needed.

And don't get me started on the ticketing machines not accepting Visa, Mastercard, or Amex at the central station in Munchen. Or the web ticketing interface which was at least as annoying as the train to use.

[jltsiren]

I've never had trouble buying train tickets with a credit card in Germany. If I had to guess, your issue was that you were trying to use a card that didn't support chip-and-PIN or contactless payments.

[eisa01]

Two years back the S-bahn ticket machines at the aiport only supported chip+pin, not contactless. Had to open my banking app to figure out my pin code, as I wanted to use my corporate Amex

[zahlman]

> didn't support chip-and-PIN or contactless payments.

As opposed to... swiping the card?

Are there really cards out there that exclusively support that?

[jltsiren]

Chip and signature, which often means just the chip without further authentication.

EMV has multiple options. Many countries (including the US) chose the signature option for credit cards for convenience and use PINs only with debit cards. Before contactless payment apps became common, that was a major source of friction when using American credit cards in Europe.

[Aloha]

I'd argue we picked it for legacy reasons - Americans are not used to the chip/pin concept, and adopted EMV very late because of a variety of legacy reasons (massive installed base of mag stripe equipment, and systems to deal with the inherent slightly higher fraud).

[avianlyric]

No the US stuck with signature for profit and cultural reasons. Europe also had a huge install of mag stripe equipment, and has the same fraud systems, what else do you think Europe was using before EMV was developed?

But Chip-and-PIN makes using credit cards marginally less convenient, and forces people to authenticate themselves to perform transactions, unlike swipes and signatures, something that many Americans don't like. The US is happy with crazy high fraud rates, and crazy high interchange rates (fees for using credit cards). Those interchange rates also fund all the fancy points and rewards programs in the US, and primarily are paid for by the poorest in society (who can't access those programs, but are still paying the interchange rates). Plus high interchange rates mean more money for banks and the card networks themselves.

The EU on the other hand capped interchange rates, so either banks had to get fraud under control, or pay for fraud out of their own pockets. I'll give you two guess which route they chose.

[account42]

> But Chip-and-PIN makes using credit cards marginally less convenient

Only because they chose to require the PIN every time. They could have instead have it depend on transaction amount and amount/transactions/time since the last PIN check like what we have for contactless now.

[Aloha]

legacy reasons = cultural reasons

Americans are not used to the pin concept.

The legacy reasons are part of why we waited so long to adopt EMV - my belief is that the US had much higher density of credit card adoption which significantly delayed EMV/Chip adoption - to give you an idea, even in the mid 90's a place that didnt take a credit card was an exception rather than common.

I dont disagree with you about interchange rates etc - we should cap them - but as a high earner I'm also going to maximize what I can from that system while I can ;-)

[lmm]

> As opposed to... swiping the card?

People still do that? Are you posting to us from 20 years ago?

[ninalanyon]

Very few Norwegian issued cards, if any, have a magnetic strip. It's too easily cloned.

[LadyCailin]

Both my DNB and Nordea cards, as well as my personal and corporate Norwegian AMEX cards all have magnetic strip, and they’ve all been issued somewhat recently.

[fragmede]

Yeah, but have they ever been used? Will they ever?

[LadyCailin]

Not in Norway. But they very well might be abroad.

[lostlogin]

If you work near high field magnets, mag strips don’t last long. Chips are fine though so that’s another bonus.

[bosse]

I’ve never received a debit or credit card in Norway without a magstrip. One of the points of having one is to use it in places abroad where chip or contactless isn’t implemented. It’s become thinner but the stipe is still there.

[rvba]

Prepaid gift cards (please note: those are not store issued) dont have chips and it is sometimes a problem to use them. But I doubt someone would buy a plane ticket with them.

[zahlman]

A gift card isn't a credit card, though... ?

[CaliforniaKarl]

You are likely thinking of branded gift cards that are specific to one store (or one grouping of stores). An Apple or Target gift card, for example.

There are also gift cards that are credit cards. Or, really, debit cards. See “open-loop cards” at https://www.bitsaboutmoney.com/archive/more-than-you-want-to...

[rvba]

I am not sure if it counts as a debit or credit card, because from technology point of view the division is blurry.

They are perhaps prepaid debit cards. But you can change and set a pin on them just like on the old credit cards. Because that's what they are - old technology.

They dont have a chip, so you have to swipe them.

Some employers give those gift cards instead of cash and I think those cards use the older technology in order to be cheaper (the chip costs few cents to manufacture). After you clear your card balance you basically throw the card away (very ecological), but if they wanted they can also add more money to the same card again. They usually dont do it since people lose the cards, so they issue new ones. So you get a lot of plastic. Think of this as some pocket money every 3-6 months.

It says VISA on the card.

The companies could give cash, but due to some obscure law and psychological reasons they give cards. The card is still better than the paper sodexo gift cards they would give out years ago that were a pain to use since few shops accepted them. But still it is a pain, since you often end up with a small balance and you need to pay part with this gift card (to clean it up to zero) and part with cash.

[weslleyskah]

Perhaps this is to facilitate the transition towards a cashless society and to provide the bundle of social benefits that companies advertise to stay competitive in the market and attract employees. Just like company shares or RSUs.

[syncsynchalt]

> A gift card isn't a credit card, though... ?

I supposed it's a matter of semantics, is a prepaid credit card that is gifted not a "gift card"?

[SoftTalker]

If this story was more than a few years ago it's plausible that the card didn't have a chip. I still have a VISA debit card without a chip, and it was issued only two years ago.

Also chip-and-pin is mostly not enabled with American credit cards or card payment terminals

[hnuser123456]

Yes, magnetic strips are easy to skim or erase.

[Freak_NL]

American Express I get. No one uses that in Europe. Visa and Mastercard debit cards are what everyone uses and they work in all German ticket machines. You weren't trying to use a credit card where you?

What language do you expect the Germans to use?

[huhkerrf]

I don't think the person expected the Germans to use a different language, only was saying that they weren't entirely sure what it said.

[eldaisfish]

For a train going to an airport, English.

This is the norm around the world, especially with complicated situations like a train splitting in two.

[lostlogin]

Is it though?

Why should anywhere cater to my failure to learn their language and systems? It’s nice if they do but I don’t expect it.

[prasoonds]

Are you seriously asking why Airport infrastructure should support English or is it rhetorical?

If you are not a backwater that doesn't get any travelers, you should cater to tourists who, as a rule, do not speak your language. Even those tourists who do speak a few phrases will absolutely be unable to understand something as complex as a the train spilling up into two before going to the Airport.

> Why should anywhere cater to my failure to learn their language and systems? It’s nice if they do but I don’t expect it.

I certainly don't see this attitude from Germans in Spain.

[lostlogin]

> you should cater to tourists who, as a rule, do not speak your language.

Why should tourists be supported? Tourists are trashing my country nearly as badly as our largest industry (dairy). Without infrastructure they shouldn’t be encouraged.

I have no interest in having more.

We also have no trains, but I’d like that to change.

[kortilla]

If you want international travelers, English is the language to allow that.

[lostlogin]

As someone travelling for the first time in a while - Wise has changed travel for the better, and dramatically.

Managed 2 weeks in the UK without touching cash and the transactions between currency were inexpensive and quick.

Massive fan.

[twobitshifter]

How were you using it? I have only ever used Wise for bank transfers. There are travel credit cards without any foreign transaction fees and that’s what I always use.

[lostlogin]

> How were you using it?

I’ve used it like a debit card/credit card. On phone and as a physical card for tap-and-go on transport. I’ve used it for booking accommodation bookings online too.

Fees are low/non existent and conversion rates good.

[ragall]

Lots of people use Amex in Europe. It's very popular as a business card.

[ninalanyon]

I doubt that it is popular with the actual users, only with the company that they work for. When I had a company issued AMEX card the damn thing was practically useless. In fact even in the US there were plenty of places that wouldn't accept it.

[i80and]

I use an Amex as my primary and preferred personal card, and legitimately can't remember any place in the US where it wasn't accepted.

In Europe it is pretty hit or miss though, unfortunately.

[ragall]

AMEX cards are being used by both large and small businesses. It's accepted by hotels, restaurants, airlines, suppliers, utilities, etc... Small shops are of little importance.

[ninalanyon]

> Small shops are of little importance.

Unless they happen to be selling something you want to buy.

[cfstras]

A couple years ago, I was at a station waiting for a (delayed) ICE train. I couldn't buy a ticket at the machine or with the app, since the train had already departed (if it had been on schedule). The ticket machine also wouldn't take VISA / MasterCard, only the more common Girocard (most people still call it EC)

Later, in the train, when I asked the conductor to buy a ticket with my Girocard, he said "That's not a commonly used payment method" and asked for VISA, or cash (not having any to provide change, obviously).

[throwaway5465]

For other readers' benefit: Girocard is not related to Girobank https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girobank or using said Girobank's Girocard to pay bills or collect dole.

[MomsAVoxell]

Hey now, you have to read the details in the train booking, or if you think you need help - go to the Info desk - which is for sure there for you at most of the main train stations - they should have explained to you that you should switch locations on the carriage, because after all, trains can be split up… as any good German knows.

And also about the cards, just use cash, I mean, come on. Visa some local coins at the airport lounge or wherever…

[em-bee]

germans don't use credit cards. finding an automated ticket machine thst handles credit cards would be extremely rare.

[thesimon]

DB machines have been accepting all sorts of cards for a long time (Visa, AMEX, Discover). Local vending machines might vary though.

[ivan_gammel]

Starting in 2026, support of digital payments is mandatory in Germany for all types of businesses. DB has been card-friendly for a long time.

[pimeys]

Yeah and already in 2025 it's quite common to be able to pay with a credit card in bars and restaurants too, which was almost unheard of a few years back. Of course these machines break all the time, and suddenly the business can only take cash. This seems to be a very specific problem that only happens in Germany.

[faust201]

> And don't get me started on the ticketing machines not accepting Visa, Mastercard, or Amex at the central station in Munchen

Wow. You travel to a different part of the world without doing basic research. Hope you did not try stuffing USD on machines.

[elbear]

I would never expect a Western European country to not accept Visa and Mastercard. I say this as an Eastern European. But I do remember that in Germany (and Austria) it's not that accepted to pay by card.