Budget traveler here, what's the cheapest way to handle proof of onward travel without buying full tickets?

Posted by Pig_Benis_was_taken@reddit | Shoestring | View on Reddit | 35 comments

Traveling on a tight budget and the proof of onward travel thing feels like it's designed to squeeze money out of people like either you buy a real flight you might not use, or you book something refundable and hope you remember to cancel, or you pay a service for a temp itinerary or buy a dummy ticket.

I've also heard you can sometimes show a bus ticket or ferry booking as proof but not sure which countries accept that looking for the genuinely cheapest solution here. Not trying to do anything dodgy just want to not spend $150 on a flight i'm not actually taking just to satisfy an immigration checkbox

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AidenTEMgotsnapped@reddit

if you don't have an onward flight and are looking to sneak past that immigration requirement you are indeed doing something dodgy.

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ExtraAd7611@reddit

Or maybe you have a flexible schedule and haven't yet decided how long you plan to stay? In any case, it's a solvable problem, as others here have offered.

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AidenTEMgotsnapped@reddit

It's still lying to an immigration officer. If the country won't accept you without solid onward plans, you make solid onward plans before arrival. If they legitimately change after, you haven't lied.

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ExtraAd7611@reddit

I don't want to lie. What should I do if I plan to exit the country by train but the ticket isn't on sale yet? Or if I plan to exit the country by walking at a border crossing? This isn't a hypothetical.

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mathess1@reddit

Majority of people running into this is just planning to travel overland. Or they don't have any strict itinerary.

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jonsnow2vnyx@reddit

well I use services that provide flight reservations or dummy tickets.

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wolfn404@reddit

As the systems get integrated, dummy tickets will likely soon land you in trouble. Be cautious on the country.

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mathess1@reddit

How? These are real confirmed tickets.

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wolfn404@reddit

They aren’t real confirmed tickets if dummy. They are usually just reservations so the name and booking number are generated. But they are never “confirmed” So not charged. Most of the US carriers are updating to real time systems, ( thanks Palantir) so they’ll be discernible

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mathess1@reddit

In that case it would be surprising anybody would accept them even now.

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Future_Inflation9668@reddit

What's the rough cost of something like that?

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mathess1@reddit

$10 to $15

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develop99@reddit

There are fully refundable fares. What's the problem?

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stickybeek@reddit

I guess you need a few hundred dollars credit availability, not always available to everyone. That's the only issue perhaps.

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Kcufasu@reddit

If you don't have enough money for the refundable flight then you can't guarantee having enough money for the last minute flight either, so you should plan to your budget - you can't guarantee low last min prices

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develop99@reddit

That's scary. I wouldn't travel if that were the case.

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SCDWS@reddit

If you don't have a spare couple hundred dollars in your bank account or a credit card with a limit higher than $500, either of which that you can tie up for a couple of days, then you should not be traveling.

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Kcufasu@reddit

Probably to have onwards travel plans...

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CasteNoBar@reddit

I always buy one way tix. What are the main countries where I have to worry about that?

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Confident-Unit-9516@reddit

Why is this question getting spammed in all the travel subs?

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Best_Midnight_2063@reddit

Bots karma farming. Why else?

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Pomksy@reddit

Dead Internet :/

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ukfi@reddit

Remember this web site

https://getonwardticket.com

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Artimusjones88@reddit

How about follow the rules and do it the way its supposed to be done.

I really hope anyone who does this crap gets caught at immigration and gets tossed out or, tossed in jail.

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