My Onward Ticket
Writer
Former budget-carrier gate ops. 8 years on the "where's your return ticket" line.
Diego worked the gate at a major European budget carrier for the better part of a decade. He's the one who used to tell travellers their boarding pass wouldn't print without proof of onward travel. Now he writes about how to clear that hurdle in two minutes flat.
A dummy ticket and a paid ticket look identical in the booking system. Here is what genuinely changes between the two, and why a fabricated screenshot fails both tests.
Japan's visa waiver covers many travelers, but the itinerary field on a visa application still wants a real onward reservation, not a receipt.
L'AVE canadienne ne demande aucun itinéraire, mais l'agent frontalier peut en réclamer un. Voici où le billet de continuation entre en jeu.
La sécurité d'un billet fictif ne tient pas à sa légalité, mais à six détails concrets, de la validité du PNR à la cohérence du dossier de voyage.
India's e-Visa application, airline check-in, and immigration each check your onward travel plans differently, and a dummy ticket satisfies each one for a different reason.
Australia's ETA app skips the onward ticket question entirely, but airlines still check it at the gate. Here is where the requirement actually lives.
Canada's eTA does not ask for a return flight, but border officers can still request proof of onward travel on arrival.
A dummy ticket's safety comes down to six separate factors, not a single yes or no answer, and most travelers only check one before they fly.
Rwanda's visa-free policy doesn't mean border and check-in staff stop asking for proof you're leaving. Here's when a dummy ticket actually comes up in Kigali.
The Dominican Republic checks proof of onward travel at both the airline counter and its mandatory E-Ticket form, and the two checks work differently.
Ryanair, easyJet, Wizz Air, AirAsia, and VietJet all fly routes where proof of onward travel matters, but they enforce the rule very differently.
L'ESTA autorise 90 jours aux Etats-Unis, mais le Visa Waiver Program exige aussi une preuve de sortie. Voici ce qu'un billet de continuation doit vraiment couvrir.