You’ve just spent two months traveling around Australia and now you’re about to spend another two months in Southeast Asia. And while you enjoyed every single minute of your stay in Oz, you’re ready to explore the intriguing cultures of Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.
You arrive at Melbourne’s International airport 2 hours prior to your direct flight to Kuala Lumpur and you quickly join the long check-in line at Malaysia Airlines. Thirty minutes pass until you are the ‘next one in line’ and you then eagerly hand over your passport and ticket confirmation number to the airline agent.
She types away on her keyboard, asks if you have any luggage, checks to make sure you packed that luggage yourself and then goes back to typing away on her keyboard again. At that point, clear visions of the Malaysian jungle slowly begin to materialize in your head and you smile widely, unable to hide the thrill of traveling to unexplored lands.
And you remain in that blissful trance, right up until the moment you hear the airline agent say…
“Can I please see your onward flight ticket?”
You now stand there confused, unaware of what she is trying to ask you. You hear the question repeated and yet you still cannot grasp it’s meaning.
“In order to enter Malaysia, you must provide proof of an onward ticket out of Malaysia. You only have a one-way ticket,” she explains.
“What? I’ve never heard of that,” you reply, and a most unwelcome fear begins to swell up inside.
“We cannot let you board your flight without proof that you will be leaving Malaysia.”
You had planned to fly into Kuala Lumpur, to cross into Singapore by land, take the ferry to Indonesia and then return to Malaysia several weeks later before traveling by bus into Thailand. Why would you need to purchase an onward plane ticket for that?, you think to yourself. You don’t plan on leaving Malaysia by plane.
After an unsuccessful attempt at wooing the airline agent, the visions in your head are now of a plane taking off without you. You even check your pockets to see if you have enough Australian money to get you back into Melbourne.
And then the airline agent offers a suggestion. “If you go over to the Qantas office at the other end of the terminal, you can buy an onward ticket and then hopefully get a refund once you arrive in Asia.”
Off you go, running across the terminal with your backpack dancing off one arm, and with only an hour and fifteen minutes to go until your flight to Malaysia is scheduled to depart. As you approach the small Qantas ticket office, you want to scream. The man behind the counter is in the midst of pulling down the shutters as the clock outside strikes 5:00pm.
You call out to this man and he immediately tells you that the office is now closed. And then you do the only thing that comes to mind. You beg him to listen to your situation. Twenty minutes later, you’re running back across the terminal building towards the check-in counter, this time with a $585 refundable airline ticket from Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok, held firmly in your hand.
The airline agent finally checks you in now that you have your onward ticket and without hesitation you rush off to immigration, through security and towards your gate, arriving with only a few minutes to spare. And as soon as you buckle your seat belt and settle into your window seat, you lean your head back, wipe the sweat from your forehead and take a deep breath. You’re on your way to Asia.
Getting The Refund
As you could have predicted, obtaining a refund for your fully refundable onward ticket was not exactly as straightforward as the Qantas ticket man had promised. On your second day in Kuala Lumpur, you trek across the city to the Qantas office, which is closed for no apparent reason. The following day, you go there again and even though it is open, a Qantas employee informs you that the refund process will require two more visits to their office during the following week.
Just thankful to be in Malaysia in the first place, you accept their seemingly unorganized system and plan your time in Kuala Lumpur around your necessary trips to the Qantas office. After your third visit, you’re finally informed that the process has been completed, but, and you just knew there would be a ‘but’, you will not see the refund on your credit card statement for 6-8 weeks.
At this point, you just don’t care. You know you’ll get that $585 back someday and now all you want is to forget about onward tickets and refunds and concentrate on the fascinating culture around you.
The Reality Of Onward Tickets
The above is a true story of course and one that happened to me exactly as I wrote it, about 7 years ago. Perhaps you’ve experienced the same thing, as dealing with the issue of onward flight tickets is something that many travelers face during their adventures.
If you spend a lot of time reading up on the visa/entry requirements for countries around the world (as I do), you’ll realize that a high percentage of countries do require visitors to have an onward ticket in order to be granted entry. However, this is a rule that is often not enforced by immigration officials.
In addition to Malaysia, I can remember being asked to show proof of an onward flight ticket in several countries, including Australia, Singapore, Jordan, New Zealand, Myanmar and the UK. So it definitely does happen and unfortunately, there is often no way to know ahead of time if the rule is going to be enforced. And this is a problem for any traveler whose travel plans are open-ended or mostly overland, and therefore doesn’t involve any onward flights.
The Solution
In order to avoid a similar situation to the one in the Melbourne airport, I now make sure that I’m always prepared. But that doesn’t mean that I’m purchasing onward tickets all of the time. Instead, before I fly anywhere, I actually ‘create’ my onward tickets these days.
While some might think this is a bit ‘questionable’ of a trick, it is a workaround that saves me a great deal of hassle by eliminating the fear involved with hearing those dreaded words – ‘where’s your onward ticket?’ Here’s what to do:
- On your computer, open an old Travelocity.com (or similar) flight confirmation that you may have and copy and paste the contents into a Microsoft Word document.
- Search online for an actual onward flight from the country you’ll be visiting. (For example, if traveling to Brazil, look for flights from Rio de Janeiro to Buenos Aires, Argentina on a date before your Brazilian visa expires.)
- Write down all of the flight information for one of the suitable flights, including the flight #, dates/times, duration, total miles of the itinerary, airline and type of aircraft.
- In the Word document, replace the old flight details with the new details you’ve just written down and update any other dates found on the confirmation.
- In the “Cost and Billing Summary” section on the Word document, change the price details to match the actual cost of the flight you found during your online search.
- Convert the Word document into a PDF file (for a cleaner look) and print out a few copies.
*Alternatively, you could just sign in to Expedia or Travelocity, search for a flight and proceed all the way up until the ‘purchase’ stage. Then print out the final itinerary that displays on the screen and use that as your confirmation. I prefer the above method as it uses an actual paid confirmation format.
This a cropped version of what you end up with…if you click on the image you’ll get a clearer view.
And then, when an airline check-in staff, or even an immigration officer, asks for proof of your onward ticket, simply hand over your confirmation and you’ll quickly be on your way.
Well, can I really guarantee the success of this trick? Nope. So you’ll have to use it at your own risk. However, it’s worked for me each and every time, although the number of occasions that I’ve actually needed to show this proof is tiny compared to the number of countries I’ve entered on a one-way ticket. You just never know.
Have you ever run into any problems with not having an onward ticket during your travels? Anyone with different advice to share?
“And when looking for low prices on airfare, be sure to check out websites such as CheapOair.com which offers cheap flights to destinations around the world.”
Back in 1999, I left home for a 3 month trip to Asia that has still yet to end.
Awesome information and a great post. Thanks for the advice, this will most definitely help me in the future. Also, another country you can add to your list of places where you need a return ticket out is Canada.
Hey Osborne – Your experience in Canada is exactly what made me think about writing this post!
Hey Earl – HAHA. Thank you, it is much appreciated. I haven’t gotten to do any traveling outside of the US yet (the Canadian issue didn’t help matters). But I have road tripped everywhere from Nevada to VA, up to NY, all through TX and everywhere in-between. I still need to make it out to the West Coast which I will be doing later this year. I try to stay away from the touristy type places that most travelers go to. I was wondering where you might suggest a good place to start my overseas adventures would be, especially if I travel alone.
Hey Osborne – I’m sure you’ll get to all of the places you want to visit, both in North American and beyond, at some point. And while choosing a good place to start traveling overseas is difficult, and depends a lot on what one is hoping to learn and experience, SE Asia is a often a great place to start. It’s relatively easy to get around, the countries are used to travelers passing through, the cultures are unique and fascinating and it’s quite cheap in that part of the world. But again, there are a lot of factors to consider before deciding where to go!
Yeah, I’ve confronted this problem in my travels. Especially on a 1 way flight to Rio de Janeiro.
I prefer using your #2 solution. It’s simpler. I just print a travelocity itinerary up until I need to purchase it. That should work 95% of the time. Caveat: also, make sure you print an itinerary from a different airline than the one you’re taking your one way flight from.
So if you’re flying to Rio via TAM, your fake Rio->Buenos Aires itinerary should be via Aerolineas Argentinas or something else.
.-= El Guapo´s last blog ..Living Series: Belo Horizonte, Brazil =-.
Excellent point El Guapo. Actually, it is vital that you use a different airline or else the check-in staff might attempt to look it up in their computer system. If it’s another airline, they’ll just have to assume the confirmation is valid. Thanks for sharing that!
Excellent idea!
That is a great solution (under my own risk of course hahaha).
Thanks for the advice! And cant wait to read your next post.
Thanks Liz. And I appreciate that you won’t hold me liable if it doesn’t work!
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Dude, I was going to write a posts about this one day as well, because it’s what I do to. I use MS Word and re-work an old ticket to match what i need. I also have an old confirmation ticket that is written solo in English (which will confuse a lot of immigration people and they will just say “Ok!”) that is even easier to re-work.
This is something that you must do after you start traveling a while, as you never know when the question will pop up. I know when i went to Malaysia they didn’t ask me about it but thank God while in London I had it, cause they weren’t going to let me into the country without showing proof of an outward ticket. Good posts man!
.-= T-roy´s last blog ..Faces of Cuba: 008 =-.
Sorry for beating you to it T-roy! That’s the thing, I was asked for proof in Malaysia and you weren’t. There just isn’t any consistency at all, so it’s always worth being prepared. And this is one easy way to do so, which is evident by how many people are already putting this trick into action.
Enjoy your weekend!
This is so ridiculously brilliant!!!!!!!!! You should have charged people $10 to read this post, haha. Ahhh Jetstar, how I loathe the!
.-= Andi´s last blog ..India: Day 3 (Part 4) =-.
Hey Andi – What? You had a bad Jetstar experience? (That was a joke.) Everyone I know that has used them has had a terrible experience. But the couple of times I’ve flown with them, everything went quite smoothly!
PS Did you ever get your $ back???
.-= Andi´s last blog ..India: Day 3 (Part 4) =-.
I did get the money back. True to their word, the credit appeared on my account about six weeks later!
Wow, this trick never crossed my mind. I will be sure to remember to do it when I have the need next time. All of the gatekeepers are just doing their job and covering their ass, if you produce something that looks decent, who are they to say it is invalid?
Hey Royce – You’re right, nobody is really going to take the time to determine whether or not this official looking flight confirmation is real or not. If it looks real, that’s good enough for them. However, as mentioned above, make sure your onward ticket is with a different airline than the one you’re entering a country with. If it’s the same, they might try and look it up in their computer system and that’s really the only way for this plan to fail!
I’ve always used the second method too – I’ve found the check-in staff are usually just following orders but are not actually very keen on refusing people entry, so an itinerary, or a reservation for a flight were enough to get in to Malaysia, China and the Philippines. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were some countries that are much stricter (and for some reason, my guesses are Canada and Australia…) so the ticket forgery is definitely an even safer bet!
I have also come to the interesting realization that carrying a stuffed animal around, in any South-East Asian country, will almost definitely get you more smiles and better service on most airlines (and even more so if you are a guy!), though I don’t recommend it anywhere in the West if you want anyone to take you seriously!
Hey Rose – A stuffed animal? I imagine that would lead to more smiles and probably some pointing as well! I’m not sure I’m ready to take my childhood stuffed bear overseas yet but I’ll consider it before leaving on my next trip. Do you always travel with one particular stuffed animal?
Haha! No, I don’t always travel with the same stuffed animal. I bought one while in Thailand from a really inspiring local artist, and it was originally meant to be a gift but I ended up hanging on to her for the next 7 months of the trip, and even getting her some friends (some of which I have found homes by now). But apart from being very cute and being named Begonia, the thing is – she made a great neck pillow on buses and planes, so I always took her with me! And when my boyfriend carried her onto a flight, the filipino stewardesses practically melted all over him, and brought us all the fruit juice we could ever want : )
But… I still don’t know if I’ll take her with me next time I leave. I guess I’ll have to ask her.
Ok, that makes more sense. I just may have to give it a try, at least on my next flight overseas!
Thanks for the tip – it is a worry as we are travelling indefinitely and never have onward tickets. So far we didn’t get asked coming in to Brazil and Argentina by plane and Paraguay overland. The rest of South America will be overland so I don’t think we’ll have a problem, although we should probably do this ticket thing to be on the safe side.
Hey Erin – That’s the thing, you just never know. Although I don’t think I’ve ever been asked for proof of onward travel when traveling overland. It’s as if they assume if you enter overland, you’ll be leaving overland and therefore don’t need proof you’re leaving. But if you’re entering by plane, they think you must be leaving by plane as well. The concept of an open-ended, overland journey is not one that immigration officials in many countries understand!
How odd! I had never heard of this before. What a pain you had to go through to get that all sorted out! Yuck. But I’m glad I know this now, before I go there!
.-= Emily´s last blog ..How to Make Free International Calls With Your iPhone =-.
Hey Emily! Thanks so much for the comment! I think it’s quite common for there to be a long, drawn out refund process in many countries when it comes to getting your money back for a refundable ticket. And it is a pain when you have to spend your first few days running back and forth to airline offices in a new place that you’d much rather be exploring. So it makes sense to whip up a confirmation and avoid that hassle all together!
This is brilliant! Not only did I not know anything about onward tickets, but I love the fact that you’re hacking your way around a silly problem using social engineering.
I’m headed to Kuala Lumpur in a few days, but I will be en route to Vietnam, so thankfully I will have an onward ticket.
.-= Raam Dev´s last blog ..Video: Follow Your Inner Compass =-.
Hey Raam – It’s just such an easy solution to a potentially unfortunate problem. And well worth the couple of minutes it takes to put a confirmation together. Have a safe journey to Vietnam and I’ll be looking forward to reading about your adventures in that part of the world!
I wrote about the same problem a while back, because it happened to me going from Cambodia to Hong Kong via Thailand. Thai Air would not let me on the plane. Had to run thru the airport in Bangkok to print out my ticket.
I really like your solution. It’s a bit of a pain but with the world the way it is, countries don’t want terrorists or freeloaders on one-way tickets.
.-= brian´s last blog ..Why Do Travel Bloggers Blog? Because You Get Gifts Like This. =-.
Hey Brian – I guess you clearly understand what I’m talking about then! And even if it’s a bit of a hassle to create one of these confirmations, it’s far less of a hassle than running through airports trying to book an onward flight at the very last possible moment. I personally don’t want to go through that scenario again if I can avoid it!
Wow, this is something I’ve never heard of! I guess when I traveled overland in South America I always had that return ticket to Dallas so it never was a problem. This is a great tip.
I was looking for your travel secrets ebook but I couldn’t find it. (Not the cruise one, the other one). Is it on this website?
.-= Jennifer Barry´s last blog ..Chile: Land of Contrasts =-.
Hey Jennifer – It is definitely something you don’t think about until you fly somewhere on a one-way ticket without knowing when you’ll be going home or moving on to the next country!
And here’s the link to the Travel Secrets eBook. eBooks
The 7 eBooks are all listed at the bottom of the page. Let me know if you run into any issues.
Oh man, you are brilliant I am SO going to print out tickets like this. Melbourne airport gave me the EXACT same problem flying into Thailand and it was the same headache of finding a ticket and then the pain and wait of wondering if you will truly ever get refunded. This ticket idea is pretty freakin brilliant Earl!
Hey Shannon – That’s crazy that you had the same experience in the same airport! Although I have heard that airports in Australia in general take these immigration rules (even upon exiting) a little more seriously than in other countries. But now you won’t have to deal with that again! I’m glad you find the trick useful…
Great story! I can’t imagine how panic I will be in your situation.
Cool trick you have up there, never thought of that
I have to admit that I’m spoiled because Ryan is the one that handles ticketing between us. I think usually we get refundable ticket that cancellation can be done via internet, but we haven’t been crossing plenty of guarded borders (no check point between EU countries and that was where we were for a long time). I think this onward ticket requirement is somewhat meaningless. I mean, as you say, as we do, people can just buy refundable ticket and refund it. Even airline agent suggested you that, defeated the reason why onward travel proof is required. Rules are made to be bent, eh
.-= Dina´s last blog ..Top 3 Modes of Transportation by Travelers Around the World =-.
Hey Dina – It is a little silly to have a rule that people can so easily get around. Although the overwhelming majority of people that enter one of these countries will have a return ticket. It is just the overland travelers and those without much of a concrete itinerary who can get stuck! We’re definitely in the minority, but at least there’s a good trick to make sure our plans don’t get interrupted.
And if you can find air tickets that can be refunded online, that is always a bonus. I have rarely found airlines that allow me to do that which is why I resort to the above trick. But having an actual refundable ticket would of course be the preferable method.
Never knew about this Earl! Do they still do this?? I guess I can understand why. Good trick to know!
.-= Financial Samurai´s last blog ..The NBA Finals Proves Location Matters For Success =-.
Hey Sam – They definitely still do this. Last year I was asked for proof upon entering Australia and a friend of mine ran into the same problem when he flew to Indonesia a couple of months ago. The problem is that you just never know when you’re going need the proof, so these days I prepare a confirmation no matter where I am going.
I have used this trick successfully myself, when going back and forth between Costa Rica and Panamá. How strict the onward travel requirement is depends on whether you are crossing by air or land and by the relevant immigration officials. For example, I crossed at two different borders into Panama and one is very strict the other not very. With regard to air travel, what many people have written in the Lonely Planet forums is that the responsibility is actually the airline’s NOT immigration and that is why you get stopped at the counter. Apparently they get a fine if they allow someone to board without proof of onward travel.
.-= JB´s last blog ..Sailing San Blas (Panamá) to Cartagena (Colombia) aboard the Sacanagem =-.
Hey JB – That’s an excellent point. The pressure is often on the airline staff as opposed to the immigration officials. I’ve heard about that fine as well and if that’s how it works, I can perfectly understand the airlines enforcing this rule. And your experience in Panama is also another good example of the need to be prepared – one country, two different borders, two different rules.
And if this doesnt work, wouldnt u get in A LOT of touble
Hey Kristen – There’s always a risk with anything such as this, but in the end, it always seems that airline agents just want to see a piece of paper and that’s about it. I’ve really never had anyone, either an airline agent or an immigration officer, spend more than 5 seconds looking at my flight confirmation. This is one of those rules that, while it may be enforced every now and then, is rarely taken too seriously.
And if they do somehow discover that it’s not a real confirmation, I have no idea what would happen as I’ve yet to hear about this happening to anyone. But again, there is always a risk and with it, the potential for some trouble.
After 9 months traveling and flying around Asia without a problem, I arrived on the African continent for the first time, via Cape Town, and wasn’t allowed entry due to my lack of onward ticket out of the country (I was keeping my options open to exit overland).
The only ticket counter open (it was about 8 or 9pm) was British Air, and they only offered 2 routes. I was going to Egypt anyways, so I booked a flight from Joburg to Cairo, but British Air wouldn’t help me unless I also bought a ticket for one of their flights. I ended up getting a flight from Cape Town to Joburg which I never used.
A very stressful way to arrive on a new continent, and in a new country! Going to try your tips going forward.
Hey Dave – Wow, I’d never actually heard of anyone being turned away (or almost being turned away) upon arrival to a foreign country. I’ve always been questioned while checking in for my flight. But whether it happens before you leave or once you arrive, it is always a big headache to deal with. This method seems to take care of that stress so I hope it works for you as well as it has worked for me!
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You can use purchase a bus ticket out of the country or a ferry ticket. I have done both of these and the airline didn’t even question it. I used the bus ticket option when I went to South Africa and I used the ferry ticket when I went to Argentina.I always purchase full fare tickets, so that I can change the time or get a refund if something comes up. In either case I did end up changing the times in SA and getting a refund in Argentina.
Hey John – That’s excellent advice although I’m not sure it will work everywhere. I did try to show an onward bus ticket to Malaysia one time when checking in for a flight to Thailand and the airline still wouldn’t accept it. But I imagine that in most places it should work. After all, not everyone flies in and out of every country!
Thanks for the feedback! I am in the process in going to Malaysia from Taiwan and I was going to buy a buy bus ticket to Thailand, but it sounds like that won’t work. I am curious if a train ticket would work. Do you know or have you heard if this works?
Hey John – It might work for Malaysia. I just ran into trouble when I had a bus ticket to Malaysia when I was flying to Thailand. Perhaps in reverse there will be no issues. And I’m not sure about using a train ticket but I’d be curious about that as well. Either way, please let us know how you manage to go so that we can all learn from you experience
Haha, this is a great technique Earl. Michael James sent me your post. I just got detained for 6 hours at UK immigration because I didn’t have an onward ticket. From now on, Im using your method. http://www.runawayguide.com/runawaysblog/detained-at-uk-immigration/
Hey Leif – I think most of us do end up learning this lesson the hard way
At least UK immigration let you in (I assume). Some people have been turned away, missed flights or had to shell out big money to buy a last minute return flight!
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Very sneaky indeed Earl.
I’m going to have to reference this in an upcoming post
I’ve just found out I need proof of onward travel in Ecuador.
Once upon a time I was at the border between France and the UK, at 4am, on a bus, and the officer wouldn’t let me through because I had no onward ticket and no hostel booked. I managed to beg for almost an hour, and get through. But I had proof of a few thousand dollars in the bank. I mean, how hard is it to book a hostel and a flight out (if you have the money). By having a “real” itinerary, they take all the fun out of adventure (and one-way) travel. I managed to get into the UK by 7am, and had a hostel by noon… even though the first 3 I tried were booked. Not rocket science.
Hey Ian – Luckily, now it’s also quite easy to purchase fully-refundable flight tickets online and then, after you cross the border, just jump back on line and cancel the ticket. I prefer this method these days as it’s a little more legitimate
Great info! Found this post via a Google search for onward travel options. I never thought of this! This could have solved a lot of problems last time I was in Thailand.
Hey Adam – This method will definitely help save you from any more issues…I’ve been issue-free in terms of onward travel proof since I began using it myself
Hey,
I’m flying from Australia to Vietnam with Jetstar in the end of april.
Has anyone made experiences with Jetstar and this fake onward ticket? I guess Australia is probably stricter than some other “developing” countries.
I’ve heard airlines can use programs such as “Amadeus” to check flight tickets whether they’re valid or not. However, I think no check-in lady would use that as it takes more time…
@Earl: Do you have any recently bought etickets from expedia or travelocity, which I can use to create my own ticket? Just because of the fact you mentioned above, that it looks better.
Thanks a lot
Hey Alex – I’ve done it once with Jetstar and didn’t have any problem. And it’s almost a certainty that they will ask you for a return ticket when you check in! I’ve never had anyone check the validity of my flight tickets before but I guess it’s always a possibility.
As for recent tickets, send me an email and I’ll see what I can find.
I’ve been wondering about this dilemma for a while as I’m flying into Bogota and out of Rio 7 months later, with overlanding in between. It’s a great idea and I’ll probably do it – although I’m convinced I’ll end up in a Bolivian prison for fraud! …There’s always one who stuffs it up!
Hey Arianwen – Good luck! Although, another option now is to simply buy a fully refundable onward ticket and once you arrive in Bogota you can go online and have it all refunded.