One way flight adverts: Do they irritate you as much as me?

[Bargepole23]

if there is a single country anywhere in the world that does not have an onward ticket requirement for tourists, then I never heard of it. I've looked, and I've never come across one that didn't have it specified in their tourism guidelines either when people apply for a tourist visa, or as one of the conditions of their being given a visa-waiver stamp on arrival at the airport.

 

note : the requirement is an onward ticket, not a return one. The immigration authorities need to know or at least have a good indication that the tourist is going to leave their country when their time is up, they can go on to a third country if they want just so long as they leave the one they are in, they are not obliged to return home.

 

sometimes onward tickets are not required for certain passport holders. I don't need one when I travel to any country in the EU, like say Poland, but a citizen of the United States definitely needs an onward ticket when they visit Poland. By contrast, US citizens do not need an onward ticket when they fly to their neighbouring countries Canada and Mexico, however I as a UK passport holder strictly speaking, do. Ditto New Zealanders, when they visit Australia. They don't need an onward ticket, but I as a UK passport holder, do.

 

eneforcement is haphazard I myself have got into several countries without having any onward ticket, but I assure you if you were to call up a flight booker at STA travel or similar right now in the UK, they will tell you that every single day in Britain, people are refused boarding on planes at airports because they do not satisfy the onward requirement of whatever country they are going to. Several times, I've had to show onward tickets when I had a flight out of the country I was going to with a different airline than the one that was taking me there - for example, once I had to show Kuwait Airlines, with whom I was flying to Manila from Bangkok, that I had an onward ticket out of the Philippines to Malaysia with a different airline (Air Asia). Otherwise, they just wouldn't have let me get on the plane.

 

it's frustrating, I'm in the Philippines right now lets say I got a one way 2.5 hour flight to Bangkok, Thailand from here for next week (I could book it online in 5 minutes for about 50 quid). However they almost certainly wouldn't let me on the plane, unless I could show I had an onward ticket somewhere else (it doesn't have to be a return ticket). Thailand has five land borders and one maritime (ship) border and I could claim that I intended to leave the country using one of those all I wanted and it wouldn't do any good. It has to be a plane ticket. Anybody that gets pulled over by Thai immigration on arrival without an onward ticket is liable to get repatriated and the airline that conveyed you to the country without the onward ticket has to pay for it, therefore it is in the airline's interest to make sure all their passengers are observant of the immigration rules of their destination country and are in possession of the correct visas and onward ticket if required.

 

Ive flown to India for work many times on a single ticket, I'm a UK passport holder and it was never questioned. Got a single ticket arranged for the journey home once I was ready to leave..

[callippo]

don't you need a visa in advance for India anyway? You can't just turn up and get a visa waiver stamp?

 

sometimes, when you have a visa in advance, then that means you don't have to have an onward ticket. That is the case in Thailand, for example.

 

for some other countries, like the Philippines, having an onward ticket is one of the things you need to show to get a visa at all, in the first place.

 

bottom line is that an onward ticket requirement flummoxes scores of people every day who think that they don't need one, when they do. They find this out usually when their airline refuses to let them board without one, giving them no choice but to try to buy a cheap ticket online or at a ticket desk at the airport in the short time they have before their flight leaves.

[PeteMorris]

Maybe I'm just a bit overcautious, but if I'm going on a flight anywhere, I like to have all the travel arrangements, sorted before I set foot on a flight, which will include a return ticket.

 

I'm afraid I would be a little nervous about arriving somewhere, and not having a means (pre-planned) of getting home. Not to mention the much talked about visa's etc, that a lot of countries may or may not require you to have before you set foot on a flight.

[Penny Quirk]

Maybe I'm just a bit overcautious, but if I'm going on a flight anywhere, I like to have all the travel arrangements, sorted before I set foot on a flight, which will include a return ticket.

 

I'm afraid I would be a little nervous about arriving somewhere, and not having a means (pre-planned) of getting home. Not to mention the much talked about visa's etc, that a lot of countries may or may not require you to have before you set foot on a flight.

 

On my last trip I booked flight to Thailand (no visa needed before travel) and 2 nights in Bangkok. I then traveled by mini-bus to Poipet on the Thai/Cambodian Border. Arranged my Cambodian Tourist Visa, walked over the border and then went to find accommodation. I then got a bus back to Thailand (no prior accommodation booked), spent 5 days on an Island (Koh Chang) and then back to Bangkok. I booked all my accommodation on arriving at each destination.

 

My previous trip; I booked 1 night in Delhi, and then bought, when in Delhi, flights to Mumbai - the flights to Mumbai were cancelled, so at the last minute (and at 04:45am) I changed my flight to Chennai (Madras) - I had no flight back to Delhi! I arrived in Chennai with the equivalent of 70p in cash and no-where to stay. Amazing feeling! I then caught a bus to Pondicherry (as in Life of Pi!) then on to Mamallapuram, public transport.

 

Try it, it might make you realise you are a lot more hardy or adventurous than you think you are!

 

To get somewhere and be totally alone and free is an amazing feeling!

[PeteMorris]

On my last trip I booked flight to Thailand (no visa needed before travel) and 2 nights in Bangkok. I then traveled by mini-bus to Poipet on the Thai/Cambodian Border. Arranged my Cambodian Tourist Visa, walked over the border and then went to find accommodation. I then got a bus back to Thailand (no prior accommodation booked), spent 5 days on an Island (Koh Chang) and then back to Bangkok. I booked all my accommodation on arriving at each destination.

 

My previous trip; I booked 1 night in Delhi, and then bought, when in Delhi, flights to Mumbai - the flights to Mumbai were cancelled, so at the last minute (and at 04:45am) I changed my flight to Chennai (Madras) - I had no flight back to Delhi! I arrived in Chennai with the equivalent of 70p in cash and no-where to stay. Amazing feeling! I then caught a bus to Pondicherry (as in Life of Pi!) then on to Mamallapuram, public transport.

 

Try it, it might make you realise you are a lot more hardy or adventurous than you think you are!

 

To get somewhere and be totally alone and free is an amazing feeling!

 

Crikey....hats off to you! That's certainly adventurous. I'm just a bit long in the tooth, and like my comforts too much to do that sort of thing! Back in my youth it wouldn't have bothered me. But now I like to play safe!..eeeek

[Bypassblade]

One way flight adverts: Do they irritate you as much as me?

 

Pete if I'm being honest I don't find you irritating, it may have been done but not read all posts lol

[PeteMorris]

One way flight adverts: Do they irritate you as much as me?

 

Pete if I'm being honest I don't find you irritating, it may have been done but not read all posts lol

 

hahahaha..classic!!!!:hihi:

[Bargepole23]

don't you need a visa in advance for India anyway? You can't just turn up and get a visa waiver stamp?

 

sometimes, when you have a visa in advance, then that means you don't have to have an onward ticket. That is the case in Thailand, for example.

 

for some other countries, like the Philippines, having an onward ticket is one of the things you need to show to get a visa at all, in the first place.

 

bottom line is that an onward ticket requirement flummoxes scores of people every day who think that they don't need one, when they do. They find this out usually when their airline refuses to let them board without one, giving them no choice but to try to buy a cheap ticket online or at a ticket desk at the airport in the short time they have before their flight leaves.

 

You do need a visa in advance...I had a 2 year multi entry one at the time, so maybe thats why I was never asked...

[Obelix]

Are you irritated by adverts that advertise flights *from* "£29.50"....and when you look at the little writing which appears for perhaps a couple of milliseconds, says 'one way only'.

 

Have you ever researched how much the flight is to get back?...Yes it's stupid money.

 

What's the purpose of advertising 'cheap' one way flights?...Ok, I'll concede that 'some' people, it might suit, but the majority, would want to be able to get back!

 

You may find a different company offering a cheap flight back though...

 

Often you will find they serve a geniune need - I've taken a cheap flight from Manchester to Marseille, and a cheap return from Madrid back to Manchester. The bit in between I filled up with a cycling holiday - very popular in the summer this sort of thing, and judging by the number of cycle carriers on the flights it wasnt just me that did this.