OK explain Heathrow ?

William Black wrote:

"erilar" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"William Black" wrote:

"David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)" wrote in message
...
William Black wrote:

[]
Do US cards have 'chip and PIN yet?

If not the poor guy will find loads of places where his cards won't
work
and
very few places take cheques these days...

If not the 'poor guy' will simply find loads of places that will just
override the chip and pin, and manually swipe the card.

Plenty of places won't do that.

I didn't have any problems using my normal US card in the UK two years
ago.

Things change.

Things changed a lot after you visited...

A US friend had problems almost immediately after your visit and could only
get cash from bank ATMs.

My last US friend stayed in September and reported no problems anywhere,
and I noticed him using his card plenty when out and about.

--
(*) of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
www.davidhorne.net (email address on website)
"The fact is that when I compose I never think of and never
have thought of meeting the listener." -George Perle (RIP 2009)

erilar wrote, On 02/02/2009 08:52 AM:

In article ,
"William Black" wrote:

"David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)" wrote in message
.. .

If not the 'poor guy' will simply find loads of places that will just
override the chip and pin, and manually swipe the card.

Plenty of places won't do that.


I didn't have any problems using my normal US card in the UK two years
ago.

Same here; last visit in the UK was December 2007, no problems with the
old-school non-chip-and-pin mag-stripe US-issue card anywhere.

I'd like to know more about these "plenty of places," since I neatly
managed to avoid encountering *any* of them.

Blaaaaah wrote, On 02/01/2009 11:34 AM:

Well I lived in London for 13 years. That was in the 1970's. Looking at
all of this info online is great but hitting the ground running is
another.

It's not rocket surgery. UAL flights arrive at T1. They're listed
according to originating US airport, and they're consistently at T1.

I have not traveled internationally since I was sentenced to
Oklahoma for life.

"Sentenced?" That's a unique perspective. Generally, if it's that
unpleasant, many people would just pack up and move.

I just need a individual to offer their perspective / observations upon
arrival at Heathrow.

Busy and crowded, sometimes confusing direction signs and long walks,
but in the main, nothing exceptionally difficult. I've never had a
problem getting to the tube, train, bus, or taxi from any Heathrow
terminal.

I don't want to dive into rush hour London with
baggage

So don't use the tube. There are two train options into London from
Heathrow, the stupidly overpriced Express (£16.50 one-way / £32 return),
or the much more reasonable Connect (£6.90 / £13.80). Then you'll
have a much shorter tube ride from Paddington Station instead, or you
can splurge for a taxi from there.

So what is there to do for 2 1/2 to
3 hours at Heathrow?

Shop for overpriced goods. Eat mediocre overpriced food. Repeat.

At that point we could take the tube to Baker
Street and walk up to NW8.

See Paddington Station train option, above.

I also am debating whether to buy GBP or the Euro before arrival or wait
until we hit London.

Euro??? GBP for the UK, and get euro from an ATM if you're also going
to the Continent.

Plenty of ATMs in London, at Heathrow and everywhere else. I've long
since quit buying foreign currency at home prior to departure. Just
Not Worth It.

I was also wondering about the various hostels and the general
enviorement of them. The hotel we booked is crap but centrally located
but can still be cancelled. I want my daughter to exp as much as
possible but obviously some hostels are not for 13 year olds and their
father's.

What hotel and where? Have you looked at using Priceline or Hotwire?

(... and their father's what, exactly?)

In article ,
"William Black" wrote:

Things changed a lot after you visited...

A US friend had problems almost immediately after your visit and could only
get cash from bank ATMs.

No shop would take her cards for some reason that nobody could explain...

These days a lot of places are PIN only and don't take cheques...

In other words, Americans are not welcome to spend money in the UK any
more?

--
Mary Loomer Oliver (aka Erilar)

You can't reason with someone whose first line of argument is
that reason doesn't count. --Isaac Asimov

Erilar's Cave Annex: http://www.chibardun.net/~erilarlo*

erilar wrote:

In article ,
"William Black" wrote:

Things changed a lot after you visited...

A US friend had problems almost immediately after your visit and could only
get cash from bank ATMs.

No shop would take her cards for some reason that nobody could explain...

These days a lot of places are PIN only and don't take cheques...

In other words, Americans are not welcome to spend money in the UK any
more?

What you say rather hints at why it isn't the problem being described...

--
(*) of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
www.davidhorne.net (email address on website)
"The fact is that when I compose I never think of and never
have thought of meeting the listener." -George Perle (RIP 2009)

Martin wrote:

On Mon, 2 Feb 2009 09:30:04 +0000, (David Horne, _the_
chancellor (*)) wrote:

William Black wrote:

[]
Do US cards have 'chip and PIN yet?

If not the poor guy will find loads of places where his cards won't
work and very few places take cheques these days...

If not the 'poor guy' will simply find loads of places that will just
override the chip and pin, and manually swipe the card.

I've found my chip and pin often doesn't work in Dutch machines, which are
made to take both. The swipe always works. Weird.

I don't think I've ever had a swipe not work (when it's been tried)
anywhere in the world I've been, yet my chip used to not work
frequently- sometimes the chip itself, other times, the transaction
being 'declined' when my bank claimed they hadn't. I put it down to
teething problems...

Tesco used to be really bad, but since they've changed their machines
it's better.

Any idea why HSBC has changed their debit cards to Visa?

It's because they put their customers interests foremost.

--
(*) of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
www.davidhorne.net (email address on website)
"The fact is that when I compose I never think of and never
have thought of meeting the listener." -George Perle (RIP 2009)

Martin wrote:

On Mon, 2 Feb 2009 20:19:30 +0000, (David Horne, _the_
chancellor (*)) wrote:

Martin wrote:

On Mon, 2 Feb 2009 09:30:04 +0000, (David Horne, _the_
chancellor (*)) wrote:

William Black wrote:

[]
Do US cards have 'chip and PIN yet?

If not the poor guy will find loads of places where his cards won't
work and very few places take cheques these days...

If not the 'poor guy' will simply find loads of places that will just
override the chip and pin, and manually swipe the card.

I've found my chip and pin often doesn't work in Dutch machines, which are
made to take both. The swipe always works. Weird.

I don't think I've ever had a swipe not work (when it's been tried)
anywhere in the world I've been, yet my chip used to not work
frequently- sometimes the chip itself, other times, the transaction
being 'declined' when my bank claimed they hadn't. I put it down to
teething problems...

chip and pin is well established in NL, not some new technology.

That may be- but I noticed teething problems here. At the beginning, I
remember everyone excusing the problems- though the reasons given were
various. I don't offhand remember having a problem recently. If it's a
UK card with the problem you have, then I don't know what that would
be... compatibility problem maybe. I haven't personally had problems
with my UK chip and pin cards in NL on recent visits, but that's only a
dozen or so transactions- I suspect it's only a visa card I've used
though, if that makes a difference.

Tesco used to be really bad, but since they've changed their machines
it's better.

Any idea why HSBC has changed their debit cards to Visa?

It's because they put their customers interests foremost.

You old cynic. )

The banks are all heart. Or full of something else, I forget...

--
(*) of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
www.davidhorne.net (email address on website)
"The fact is that when I compose I never think of and never
have thought of meeting the listener." -George Perle

In article ,
(David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)) wrote:

erilar wrote:

In article ,
"William Black" wrote:

Things changed a lot after you visited...

A US friend had problems almost immediately after your visit and could
only
get cash from bank ATMs.

No shop would take her cards for some reason that nobody could explain...

These days a lot of places are PIN only and don't take cheques...

In other words, Americans are not welcome to spend money in the UK any
more?

What you say rather hints at why it isn't the problem being described...

Well, I've heard nothing of fancy chips and PINs for the credit and
debit cards I use.

--
Mary Loomer Oliver (aka Erilar)

You can't reason with someone whose first line of argument is
that reason doesn't count. --Isaac Asimov

Erilar's Cave Annex: http://www.chibardun.net/~erilarlo*

"erilar" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"William Black" wrote:

Things changed a lot after you visited...

A US friend had problems almost immediately after your visit and could
only
get cash from bank ATMs.

No shop would take her cards for some reason that nobody could explain...

These days a lot of places are PIN only and don't take cheques...

In other words, Americans are not welcome to spend money in the UK any
more?

They're welcome to spend money.

I think people are a bit wary of possibly dud cards...

--
William Black


I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Barbeques on fire by the chalets past the castle headland
I watched the gift shops glitter in the darkness off the Newborough gate
All these moments will be lost in time, like icecream on the beach
Time for tea.

"David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)" wrote in message
...
Martin wrote:

Any idea why HSBC has changed their debit cards to Visa?

It's because they put their customers interests foremost.

More likely they just got sick of people threatening them with the courts
after being ripped off on the net and the banks then saying 'Debit cards
aren't covered'.

The Visa symbol says 'Go and tell Visa, it's not our problem'.

--
William Black


I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Barbeques on fire by the chalets past the castle headland
I watched the gift shops glitter in the darkness off the Newborough gate
All these moments will be lost in time, like icecream on the beach
Time for tea.