A t an airport, you’ll often be asked to show proof of onward travel in order to get into a country. There are many travellers who were denied boarding or entry into a country because they didn’t prove this. For long-term travellers, it’s a recurring problem that’s really quite annoying. When they enter a country by plane, they really don’t want to pay for their next ticket as, often, they don’t even know which country they’ll visit next, when they’ll leave the country and whether or not they’ll travel by plane, or overland by train or bus.
In a nutshell, proof of onward travel is evidence that you’ll leave your destination country before your visa expires. To prove this you usually need a return plane ticket home or an onward ticket to another destination.
Those who control you expect you to have a return or onward plane ticket.
However, in theory, travelling with an overland onward ticket, such as bus or train, should be enough. But, airports can be particularly picky and rarely accept bus or train tickets. To be safe, it’s best to buy an onward plane ticket.
This is the most common scenario. At the airline’s check-in desk, they can stop you from boarding.
In the worst-case scenario, upon arrival at your destination, when going through immigration and customs, you can be instantly deported on the first plane back.
Upon arrival, when going through immigration and customs, you’ll be allowed to enter the country if you buy an onward ticket there and then.
Stuck at the border because of the “b!00dy” return ticket
This situation is very common. It helps host countries feel reassured that you’re not going to illegally stay there beyond the maximum legal length of stay.
The problem mainly arises at airports. Strangely, at land border crossings, they’re usually more relaxed. Controls are much rarer there and, usually, if you bargain a little with the customs officers, they’ll let you through without an onward ticket.
Yes, fairly often.
Thanks to a survey amongst our readers, we’ve collected evidence from travellers who were asked for proof of onward travel. More than 30 countries were mentioned, including: Chile, Argentina, Mexico, Thailand, South Africa.
However, the controls are far from being systematic and are instead completely random. In fact, most of the time, you won’t be asked for anything.
During our RTW trip, we took nine flights and we were never asked for anything, despite the fact that we landed almost exclusively in countries that demand proof of onward travel in their official entry requirements (according to the embassies). The only time we were asked for an onward ticket was at a land border checkpoint.
To sum up, it’s difficult to give you precise figures and probabilities. It only takes a little bit of bad luck for it to happen to you.
Not all countries in the world officially specify if proof of onward travel is required for entry. However, the list of those who do is pretty long.
To find out if the country you’re going to officially enforces this rule, see our list by country and by risk of being checked at the bottom of this page. It concisely and accurately compiles information from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and gives all embassies’ contact details (for the US and UK) so you can get information directly from them.
On arrival, the local airport customs officers sometimes ask for an onward ticket at passport control. More often than not, as we previously said, you won’t be asked for anything, even if the country specifies in its entry requirements that an onward ticket is needed. However, rarely doesn’t mean never.
It’s usually airlines who ask to see proof of onward travel. We know that if you’re denied entry by immigration and customs on arrival, then the airline is obligated to send you back to your country at their own expense. They anticipate this problem and therefore sometimes require proof of onward travel in order to let you board.
Although some countries are stricter than others, the controls are completely random. The best way to avoid the problem is to make sure that you don’t get asked for anything. For that to happen, here’s a list of things that you should avoid doing.
At the airline check-in, the employee isn’t there to interrogate you. Try to keep a low profile so you can avoid the fatal question: “Do you have proof of onward travel?”. That’s all you can do.
Say that you have a return ticket, even though that’s not true. If you’re asked to show it, say that you have an e-ticket, but not a printed version. If this doesn’t work on the person at the desk, insist on using your charm. Under no circumstances whatsoever should you get angry, that never works.
Be early and have a smartphone
If nothing works, and if you’ve arrived well in advance, you’ll still be able to get around the problem by using one of the solutions listed in the rest of this article, like buying a refundable ticket or renting a plane ticket. For this, you’ll need a smartphone, internet connection, such as airport WiFi, or better yet, 3G/4G/5G.
You can always try telling a few white lies
Definitely don’t lie about your onward ticket. Remember the “things to avoid doing” mentioned above. Say that you don’t have a return ticket, because you planned to leave the country by bus or train, to such-and-such a country, around such-and-such a date. If that’s not enough, explain your multi-destination trip, show your previous visas (and how the legal length of stay was always respected) and your next plane tickets if you’ve bought round-the-world (RTW) tickets. If you’re in a panic, as a last resort, don’t hesitate to look really hopeless, even tearful.
If the customs officer decides to deport you, offer to buy a plane ticket right there and then.
Don’t lie to them, they’re trained to detect our fear
Rest assured, you can easily avoid the problem at a low cost and without too much hassle. Here’s a list of simple solutions before we show you a popular solution.
Surely you’re thinking, “But that’s not a solution,” and you’re not wrong. However, it turns out that, more often than not, a return ticket is cheaper than a one-way ticket. It’s totally stupid, but that’s the way it is. Remember to always check this before buying a one-way ticket.
Business class tickets are sometimes refundable without any charges, as long as the cancellation is done in a certain period of time. Economy class tickets are also sometimes refundable (though it’s rarer) with little or even (in exceptional circumstances) no charges at all. To find out, you can call airlines and read their sales terms and conditions very, very carefully. But nobody wants to do that and, oddly enough, airlines don’t highlight this information.
A quick and easy way to find those refundable tickets is to use Orbitz or Expedia. They both have a search filter for that of their website. But beware, to get the reimbursement you must request cancellation within 24 hours of purchase. We advise you to buy your ticket as late as possible and to cancel it as soon as you arrive.
Dozens of travellers told us that they used Orbitz and received immediate and hassle-free reimbursement. However we have also read a few stories from more dissatisfied travellers who have had difficulty getting reimbursed.
Another tip: Copa airline, a Latin American airline, refunds tickets if the cancellation is done in a short period of time. The cancellation fee is $25.
Watch out, the cancellation insurance offered by airlines will only refund you if the cancellation is in the case of an emergency, such as a medical emergency or death of a family member… So don’t bother with it.
It’s not too hard to make a fake plane ticket. After all, it’s just a bit of ink on A4 paper.
You need to start with a real ticket (your one-way ticket) and then change the places and dates of departure and arrival, as well as the flight and booking number. For it to be believable, you need to do some research and copy this information from a real flight, ideally from the website of the airline you’re taking on the outward journey. Be careful, don’t put a return flight to the country you’re coming from. In this case, it’d be suspicious to not have taken a return ticket.
Technically, all it takes is a quick tweak in Photoshop and you’re good to go. You can also use this online PDF editor which works pretty well. The ReturnFlights website lets you create fake tickets which are automatically based on real ones. But, they’re less convincing than the ones that you could make yourself.
We’ve heard from travellers who’ve tried and tested this technique. For many, they went through airline check-ins without a single problem. For others, they say that it didn’t work.
However, we don’t recommend using this technique. It should definitely be avoided with customs officers at the airport. Please be aware that it’s very easy to check anyone’s flight information on the CheckMyTrip website. It takes just two seconds to check the booking number (which you’ll have invented) and realise that the ticket is a fake. Apparently, the airline check-in employees don’t take the time to check. But this might not be the case with customs officers.
You don’t have a return ticket, but you have a hotel reservation in a neighbouring country. This argument may eventually convince the customs officer, if you seem trustworthy. But, that won’t work at the airline check-in if there’s a problem. Only do this in the case of an emergency, if you don’t have anything better.
You don’t have a departure ticket from the country, but you have a plane ticket which leaves from a neighbouring country. Once again, if you’re asked for a return ticket at the airline check-in, this probably won’t work. You can’t easily argue with them. Customs officers may eventually give in to this if you manage to inspire trust in them.
We already showed our RTW tickets to help argue our case when they asked us for a departure ticket that we didn’t have. It worked! Our RTW story was believable as it was towards the end of our trip, so our passports were full of visas.
But this isn’t a reliable solution.
A bus ticket is a lot cheaper than a plane ticket. When specified, countries’ official requirements almost always state that they want an onward plane ticket. They hardly ever mention the possibility of buying an onward ticket by bus or train. In fact, when you call embassies, the information differs. Lots of countries maintain that an onward ticket by bus or train is accepted.
This is the case in Russia, Peru or Panama, for example (we checked). This isn’t the case in the US. There, they ask foreigners entering their country to exclusively have a return plane ticket.
You’re bound to have some problems at the airline check-in if you show them an onward ticket via land. So, you’ll need to argue your case some more… By insisting, you should get through, as long as customs officially accept it.
This information isn’t easy to find online. To be sure, you should directly contact the embassies for each country.
There are several websites with pretty similar names and which work in relatively similar ways: mainly Bestonwardticket et Onewayfly, , but also others which are lesser-known, like Onward Ticket Visa. FlyOnward, the first website of this kind, no longer exists.
The aim is to pass off a ticket booking as a real ticket.
For barely $14 to $23 (£10 to £17), you can buy an “official” plane ticket booking which looks like an e-ticket and which’ll serve as proof of leaving the country. For example, if you go to Thailand, you book a flight from Thailand to another country.
From the moment you receive it by email, the booking only stays active for a limited amount of time: 48 hours with Bestonwardticket and up to two weeks with OneWayFly. Therefore, you have enough time to use it as proof of onward travel when you check-in before departure and to go through customs on arrival. If the PNR (Passenger Name Record) number is checked after this period, the status will come up as cancelled.
Onewayfly, a way to deal with the proof of onward travel problem
No. It isn’t a real ticket or an e-ticket. It involves a simple flight booking from an airline. Only travel agencies can make these bookings and that’s the case for OneWayFly and BestOnwardTicket. Onewayfly’s FAQ page isn’t very clear in relation to this information, and BestOnwardTicket dishonestly maintains that it’s a “perfectly legitimate flight ticket”. The booking is real, it has a PNR number that you can enter into the airline’s website which it was made on. A page then appears, which shows all the flight details. Once this page is printed, it really looks like a real ticket.
But, what the airport check-in staff are asking for is a real ticket, and not just a booking. This technique is therefore a matter of craftiness – you need to show a booking that you can easily pass off as a genuine ticket. However, if the check-in staff thoroughly inspect the ticket, they’ll be able to see that the ticket has only been booked, and still hasn’t been paid for. In fact, the booking doesn’t have a 13 figure number which proves that the ticket has been paid for.
Amongst our readers, we’ve received dozens of accounts from RTW travellers who’ve used this method and who’ve been asked for proof of onward travel at check-in. For the vast majority, everything went smoothly when they showed their BestOnwardTicket or OneWayFly ticket for proof of onward travel.
Here are some destinations which we had positive feedback from: Thailand, Argentina, Colombia, Philippines, Vietnam, USA.
If you believe Truspilot’s reviews of Bestonwardticket 3 % seulement des utilisateurs ont eu des problèmes à l’embarquement.
We also received a handful of accounts from people who said that this technique didn’t work. The destinations which we received negative feedback from are: Greece and China.
That said, we can assume that it’s not really the departure country, the destination, or the name of the airline where you check-in that increases the risk of being rigorously checked, but rather the thoroughness of the staff themself.
As explained earlier, it isn’t a foolproof technique. There’s a small chance of being stopped at check-in. In this case, you’ll only be asked to buy a real ticket and go back to the check-in desk. Therefore, we recommend that you get to the airport well in advance so that you have time to do this.
This is extremely rare, but when you arrive at your destination, you may be controlled by a customs officer who also asks you for proof of onward travel. We suggest that you avoid being crafty with them. You should tell them the truth and that you’d planned to buy your departure ticket later. In the worst-case scenario, they’ll probably ask you to simply buy a departure ticket out of the country there and then.
I’m going to Sri Lanka. This destination makes it more likely I get asked for an onward ticket. I only bought a one-way ticket. So, I buy an onward ticket from OneWayFly or BestOnwardTicket that leaves from Sri Lanka.
Of course, this depends on which country I’m going to. My aim is to prove that I really am going to leave this country. So, I specify Sri Lanka.
By default, on BestOnwardTicket, it’ll be chosen randomly. To be safe, I prefer to choose it myself by paying a few extra dollars. I select a non-bordering country which doesn’t require a visa to be done before arrival, or even my home country.
I want to avoid awkward questions. So, I make sure that I don’t put a date that’s too close to my arrival in the country, and definitely not the following day. I also make sure that this departure date doesn’t exceed the maximum legal length of stay in the arrival country. Specifying a departure date 15 days after your arrival is always a good idea wherever you’re going.
With BestOnwardTicket, the ticket is only valid for 48 hours from when you receive it, after this time it’s automatically cancelled. It’s absolutely essential that it’s still valid when I go through the last customs controls when my flight arrives. I do it a few days in advance, but I ask that I only receive the proof of onward travel on the departure day and at a time that allows me to print the ticket before heading to the airport. If you can’t specify a date to receive it, the proof of onward travel is sent as soon as possible after the payment. This is in 60 minutes max. for BestOnwardTicket and within 24 hours for OneWayFly.
I receive an order confirmation straight away and, on the specified reception date, Bestonwardticket sends me my proof of onward travel by email. I prefer using the PNR code on the specified airline’s website and printing my proof of onward travel from there. I think it’s more credible than just showing an email sent by OneWayFly or BestOnwardTicket.
It took me less than a minute to make my purchase. I didn’t use the option which allows you to ask to receive your proof of onward travel later. I received mine in 5 minutes. You can see the document I received via email by clicking here.
I immediately checked its validity by going to the airline’s website and logging in with my booking codes. I received confirmation that my ticket had really been booked. I can see a box that says “status confirmed”. It really looks like a genuine ticket. You can see the screenshot by clicking here.
This technique isn’t that different from that of making a fake ticket. Theoretically speaking, it’s more likely to work than a fake ticket, since it has a real PNR number. The technique has proven its worth for many people. It’s extremely convenient, quick, and cheap, but you’re still running a risk.
We’d only use this technique for a country that isn’t too fussy, where the risk of being rigorously checked is low. Make sure you check-in during busy periods to maximise the chances that the check is not overly thorough.
When circumstances permit, that is to say for a journey that isn’t too long and you’ve got enough money put aside, then we advise you to opt for the refundable ticket solution which will refund you the full amount if the ticket is cancelled within 24 hours after the purchase, and which we spoke about earlier.
Sometimes you have to get a visa before arriving in a country. In some cases, among the requested documents, you might need to provide a photocopy of your departure ticket. This is the case in China.
Lots of RTW travellers don’t know when or how they plan on leaving a country. They’d rather not buy a plane ticket just to get a visa, especially since they might not even use it.
Unfortunately, there are even fewer solutions in this case.
The official information on forms and online state that sometimes a departure “plane ticket” from the country is required.
But often, in reality, a cheaper bus or train ticket will still be accepted. This is a nice little saving, especially when you don’t intend on using this ticket. Ideally, to be sure, you should directly call the consular service which is responsible for issuing visas.
This solution isn’t worth considering. As far as we know, tickets that can be cancelled and refunded after 24 hours of purchase don’t exist. The ticket would no longer be valid even before the visa application was opened.
Unfortunately, we don’t know any other solutions to this problem.
Many of our readers tell us that they’ve successfully provided a “fake” ticket in order to obtain a Chinese visa.
Many of them say they paid OneWayFly agency $23 (£17) to get a “ticket reservation”. It is the same “trick” we explained in detail above in this article but applied to a visa application.
As of yet, we have no accounts from RTW travellers who attempted to cheat the system in this way and who didn’t get their visa.
We can guess that the risks of getting caught are lower for a visa application than for going through an airport check-in. After all, consular officers don’t work in the plane ticket business.
The worst that can happen is that your visa is refused. If this happens, you could always claim to have the wrong documents and correct or restart the visa application.
This table shows information from three official bodies: the Foreign Travel Advice (UK), and IATA (International Air Transport Association). It explains in detail, country by country, the requirement to show an onward ticket at the border.
Please note, for countries that require a visa before arrival, the onward ticket is sometimes a prerequisite, even if the ticket is not necessarily checked at the border afterwards.
For UK citizens, on the Foreign Travel Advice website you can get information on travelling abroad country by country, including: safety and security, travel warnings and entry requirements… Information on return and onward tickets is normally there and it must be taken seriously. But, sometimes there isn’t any information on this. So, you could assume that being checked is less likely, but it shouldn’t be ruled out entirely.
For US citizens, the Travel.Sate.Gov website is the equivalent. Unfortunately, it doesn’t give as detailed information on the requirement to have a return or onward ticket in order to enter a foreign country. However, we don’t believe there’s any reason to think that other anglophone countries have different rules regarding this issue, whether you’re American, British, Australia or even from New Zealand.
This is an official global trade association for more than 260 airlines. The information on this website comes from all of their databases. This is the most reliable website for information on onward tickets at airports. For IATA, when there isn’t information on a country, you can assume that the risk of being checked is low. On the other hand, when it specifies that an onward ticket is required, the risk must be taken seriously, but this doesn’t mean that the check is systematic.
When we did our research on IATA (in November 2021), we did it from the viewpoint of an American traveller. However, once again, we’ve noticed in our tests that the results were the same for a Brit, a New Zealander, and even an Australian.
In Europe, you won’t be asked for an onward ticket if you are travelling between countries which are part of the Schengen Union.
To use IATA, you have to fill out the online form to get information for each country.
Information not specified. A control shouldn’t be ruled out completely.
A return / onward ticket may be required
A return / onward ticket is required. Being controlled is still non-systematic.
If you’ve been asked to show a return ticket or proof of onward travel at a border, could you tell us:
It’d be great if you could tell us more about that in the comments section of this article.
