How the heck do they expect us to travel without plans?

Things are just getting crazier did my RTW in 2009/2010 with only one issue which was resolved without having to buy a plane ticket.

In 2011 flew on a one way Toronto to Bangkok, then returned from Phnom Penh to El Salvador with a stop in Honolulu on a one way, no problems either way with either airlines, Cathay Pacific outbound or Korean Air/United/TACA inbound or immigration.

Now the strange part, bought a return ticket San Salvador to Bogotá for a visa run. No problem on the outbound leg, except for the retarded US style "security" measure of wandering around airport shoeless.

However on the return was hassled TWICE, once at check-in counter, again at security to international departure gates, about my flight terminating in El Salvador as I was traveling on a Canadian passport. They then had a conniption over the hiking pole I use as a walking stick & have traveled the world without question.

Of course there was no problem at Salvadorian immigration as I had been out of the country the requisite 3 days.

What aggravates me most is that TACA is based in San Salvador.

I am kind of considering something along the same lines. Booked on a ship to europe entering in Cherbourg, France. staying abroad for a year or so all around. No return ticket to states, and no legitimate proof of onward travel out of schengen, but plans to stay 60 days and then go to the Balkans. I am going to prepare an itinerary with contact information of hosts along the way for their review. Recently i have been thinking about buying a cheap airline ticket from france to croatia or even a ferry ticket from italy to croatia just to have a peice of paper to show them onward travel.

I dont want to have to buy either of those. Still, I assume it is always possible to get a harsh immigration agent in france upon arrival. Somebody just tell me not to worry.

Less then 60 days from leaving and I am starting to get the jitters thinking some dude can tell me "no".

It's mainly the airlines that cause grief, the only time I had a problem overland was the bus ticket scam entering Panama from CR & a couple bucks for a ticket if I hadn't had an onward air ticket.

Andromeda wrote: what I do is search a plausible itinerary in a few weeks time back to the United States (on an airline not affiliated with the one you're flying!), copy what I find to Word, and print that out so it looks like a legit ticket.

GOOD THINKING!!

I am flying one-way to Asia this summer - seems that this idea might come in handy!

The countries that have strict immigration laws seem to generally have the "proof of onward ticket" policy.

Swiss, australia, israel, japan, etc...makes perfect sense to me.

Remember, us travelers don't see it as an issue...we want to the freedom to travel...unfortunately there are unscrupulous people (dare i say terrorists), that take advantage of not having proof of onward travel...ruins it for all of us

Eppyboy wrote:The countries that have strict immigration laws seem to generally have the "proof of onward ticket" policy.

Swiss, australia, israel, japan, etc...makes perfect sense to me.

Remember, us travelers don't see it as an issue...we want to the freedom to travel...unfortunately there are unscrupulous people (dare i say terrorists), that take advantage of not having proof of onward travel...ruins it for all of us

Dare I say US airlines/US government would be closer to the truth!

When I wandered around Europe (mostly on one-way tickets) customs/immigration agents were satisfied when I showed them my handwritten flight information (flight number, dates, airport codes, confirmation numbers), even though there was absolutely nothing official about my little pocket notebook and my poor-but-readable penmanship. Basically, the lazy version of the Word document mentioned earlier in this thread.

busman7 wrote:

Eppyboy wrote:The countries that have strict immigration laws seem to generally have the "proof of onward ticket" policy.

Swiss, australia, israel, japan, etc...makes perfect sense to me.

Remember, us travelers don't see it as an issue...we want to the freedom to travel...unfortunately there are unscrupulous people (dare i say terrorists), that take advantage of not having proof of onward travel...ruins it for all of us

Dare I say US airlines/US government would be closer to the truth!

Huh? Not saying my country doesn't have a non-stellar reputation in all this, but we're not the only ones (I had to do the whole photo/fingerprint/grilling when entering Japan for example).

Andromeda wrote:

busman7 wrote:

Eppyboy wrote:The countries that have strict immigration laws seem to generally have the "proof of onward ticket" policy.

Swiss, australia, israel, japan, etc...makes perfect sense to me.

Remember, us travelers don't see it as an issue...we want to the freedom to travel...unfortunately there are unscrupulous people (dare i say terrorists), that take advantage of not having proof of onward travel...ruins it for all of us

Dare I say US airlines/US government would be closer to the truth!

Huh? Not saying my country doesn't have a non-stellar reputation in all this, but we're not the only ones (I had to do the whole photo/fingerprint/grilling when entering Japan for example).

I fail to see what the photo/fingerprint thing has to do with onward travel + it's no biggie in the US as it's only done once, after that US immigration is a breeze. btw the triple negative in one thought seems a bit much

I personnel can't ever remember being asked for documents to prove onward travel other than seeing my Visa and airline tickets, some have been one way they have just asked for details of the travel that's all.

I did my RTW in 2010/11 and encountered the 'onwards proof of travel' situation a couple of times. On most occasions it was not a hassle at all. Personally I just went with the buying a fully refundable plane ticket option then cashing it in if I didn't end up using it.

The one time I did have hassle, it was my fault really. I hadn't thought about it until I rocked up for my flight between Lima, Peru to Havana Cuba. I had to end up running into a travel agent across the road from the airport to get a 'fully refundable' air ticket. Normally I book direct with airlines but the internet was down and the airline offices at the airport were closed for some reason.

Anyway that worked a treat except when I tried to cancel it. The airline will not refund you at all if the ticket was purchased through an agent they will only refer you to the agent. When the agent is in another country it proved to be very difficult to get the money out of them.

I always knew there were multiple reasons to avoid travel agents! Oh well, as said it was my fault for not thinking ahead.

The only thing I would add to the 'get a fully refundable' air ticket thing is make sure that you buy it directly with the airline. Unless the travel agent is your brother or something...

walkerstrails wrote:
The one time I did have hassle, it was my fault really. I hadn't thought about it until I rocked up for my flight between Lima, Peru to Havana Cuba. I had to end up running into a travel agent across the road from the airport to get a 'fully refundable' air ticket. Normally I book direct with airlines but the internet was down and the airline offices at the airport were closed for some reason.

Which airline did you book with?

I flew on a one way ticket with COPA Panama City to Havana just before New Years 09, No problemo!

Oh, I have to relate my story about what happened to me earlier this year, just to show how absurd the whole "proof of onward travel thing" is. So I was flying on a one-way from Istanbul to Odessa Ukraine on Aerosvit (a Ukrainian airline). I check my bag, get my boarding pass, no problem. But once I'm back at the gate, the gate agent tells me that the women who checked me in is on the phone and that they can't let me board the plane without proof of onward travel. I'm given the whole "if you're denied entry to the country, we're responsible for flying you back" story. So I log onto my laptop and buy another ticket and they let me on the plane. Mind you, this was all happening while the plane was boarding. I literally got on the plane a few minutes before we took off. Now here's the interesting part:

The ticket I bought, the one that I used as my "proof of onward travel" went from Rome to DC! How the heck is that going to help if I'm denied entry into Ukraine???? And yes, I asked them ahead of time if I could use that as my proof of onward travel and they said "sure, no problem" and they happily jotted down the details of my Rome to DC flight into their notebook. Absurd!

EMH wrote:
The ticket I bought, the one that I used as my "proof of onward travel" went from Rome to DC! How the heck is that going to help if I'm denied entry into Ukraine???? And yes, I asked them ahead of time if I could use that as my proof of onward travel and they said "sure, no problem" and they happily jotted down the details of my Rome to DC flight into their notebook. Absurd!

Similar to my flight in 2010 on Thai Air from Bangkok to Brunei where they accepted my next RTW leg Singapore to Perth as proof of onward travel.

How was AeroSvit almost flew them Toronto to Bangkok last year but chose Cathay Pacific instead so as not to arrive BKK at 03:00?

busman7 wrote:

EMH wrote:
The ticket I bought, the one that I used as my "proof of onward travel" went from Rome to DC! How the heck is that going to help if I'm denied entry into Ukraine???? And yes, I asked them ahead of time if I could use that as my proof of onward travel and they said "sure, no problem" and they happily jotted down the details of my Rome to DC flight into their notebook. Absurd!

Similar to my flight in 2010 on Thai Air from Bangkok to Brunei where they accepted my next RTW leg Singapore to Perth as proof of onward travel.

How was AeroSvit almost flew them Toronto to Bangkok last year but chose Cathay Pacific instead so as not to arrive BKK at 03:00?

Other than pulling the onward ticket BS, they were fine. They actually fed us a huge meal even though the flight was only an hour long. Weird.