My Onward Ticket
Plain-English answers from people who've worked both sides of the border counter. Written daily by four travel-industry insiders.
A dummy or onward ticket PNR can vanish before you need it. Here's what actually determines how long yours stays valid, and how to check it.
Jamaica's immigration process expects proof you're leaving, not just arriving. Here's what counts as valid onward travel and how a dummy ticket satisfies it.
Before you ever reach a UK border, the Standard Visitor visa's online form and document upload ask for onward travel evidence. Here's what actually belongs in that upload.
A Schengen visa application checks your onward ticket's timing, not just its format, and getting the 90/180-day math wrong can undo an otherwise solid file.
Airlines check onward tickets because they are legally liable if they do not. Land border crossings usually have no such carrier, so the rules, and the risk, change completely.
El Salvador's entry rules run on a shared CA-4 clock with Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, and an onward ticket can still be checked at any border in the zone.
Your onward ticket confirmation looks fine, but the airline's own site can't find the PNR. Here's what that gap usually means, and what to check before you assume the booking failed.
A dummy ticket only works if its PNR actually verifies on the airline's website. Here is the exact five-step check gate agents and consulates use.
Getting turned away at the gate for a missing onward ticket doesn't have to end your trip. Here's what actually gets you rebooked, and why EU compensation won't cover it.
A US B1/B2 visa interview and an airline check-in counter check completely different things. Here's where a dummy ticket, also called an onward ticket, actually comes into play.
A Thailand tourist visa application lives or dies on one checklist item: proof of onward travel. Here is what consulates actually check, and where a dummy ticket fits in.
A dummy ticket is legal when it's a real, verifiable reservation. Here are the five things that actually separate a compliant onward ticket from document fraud.
A dummy ticket isn't fake and it isn't automatically illegal, but travelers still get its basics wrong in ways that cost them at check-in or the border.