Chip only Cedit Card

You may be forced to accept a secondary sort of Oyster Card that has slightly higher price for the card itself, or maybe the minimum "load". It's called something like a Tourist Card. I happen to have bought an Oyster Card at a tourism office on Fifth Avenue in NYC, but I can tell you that I had no trouble "loading" cash onto it at the London Transport window (human clerk) where I had to sign a paper slip spit out of his machine. I think I also used a machine to put a modest amount of cash on the card, later. It's important to distinguish between buying the piece of plastic and loading Pounds onto a card.

I didn't personally do this, but I understand that those with Iphones 6 and above who use Apple Pay can use their PHONE to get every feature of the Oyster Card, including the daily cap on charges. (I have an Iphone 5S, so I can't.)

We didn't have any problems using our US chip cards to buy Oyster cards last year and no issues using our cards to add more value to the Oysters either.

Thanks for the information!

Yes. Most US cards work fine. You can even do Apple Pay if you want.

If you are planning on cashing in your Oyster when you are done with it, it is best to use exactly the same form of payment (exact same card if that's what you start with) every time you have added funds or you may be required to mail in the card to receive the refund. And cash (GBP) seems to work best over all.

I've done this. But sometimes one card will not work but a different one will. That has happened to me. Card A will work and Card B will not. The next time, Card A will not work and Card B will.

Makes no sense.

I had no problem topping my off my Oyster cards with my U.S. credit card at the airport. (We’re there often enough we just keep the Oyster cards for the next trip.) The machines are easy to use.

I haven’t had any trouble using mine. I used it several places throughout UK.

"You may be forced to accept a secondary sort of Oyster Card that has slightly higher price for the card itself, or maybe the minimum "load". It's called something like a Tourist Card"

It's called a visitor oyster card and is a more restrictive product that a normal oyster card as you can't load a travelcard onto it, you can't get the card deposit price refunded and if you buy online you have to pay postage to have it sent to you.

https://www.londontoolkit.com/briefing/oystercard.htm

"You may be forced to accept a secondary sort of Oyster Card that has slightly higher price for the card itself, or maybe the minimum "load". It's called something like a Tourist Card"

It's called a visitor oyster card and is a more restrictive product that a normal oyster card as you can't load a travelcard onto it, you can't get the card deposit price refunded and if you buy online you have to pay postage to have it sent to you.

You won't have to do this. You can get the same Oyster Card as everyone else when you arrive.

Thanks to all that replied. I appreciate the assistance.

Even before I had a chip card, my swipe card worked fine. London gets visitors from all over the planet so the machines are pretty good. The visitor Oyster card is pointless.

An Oyster card is an Oyster card...the visitor version has restrictions on it and I have never understood why anyone would choose this one. Just purchase a regular Oyster card, load it up, and tap your way through London! If you think it might be running out you can just tap it at a machine and it will let you know your balance.
I have never had a chip credit card not accepted unless I forgot to tell the bank that issued it that I was traveling.

I've had no problems using mine at the Heathrow Oyster machines - your card will function as a "chip and signature" (rather than "chip and PIN") when used in restaurants, stores, etc., I've never had a problem doing so in London.

https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/money/chip-pin-cards

Will a US chip only (not chip and pin) major Credit Card be accepted
by the machine to purchase an Oyster Card at Heathrow?

It worked for me.

I had no problems topping up our Oyster Cards in London last June. It is a heck of a lot easier than 10 years ago when we had to go to a manned booth at one of the stations and add funds.