[gang]

For people who like to book 1 way international plane tickets like me for ultimate travel freedom:

Recently I booked a 1 way ticket out of the USA with American Airlines and was told at the AA counter at the airport that the island country I was flying to required me to have a return flight (or I'm assuming a flight leaving the destination country works too). This was a surprise to me because American Airlines actually let me fly to another island country before without a return flight after asking me at the counter if I had a return flight.

I never had a notice on the website from AA when I booked my ticket that I needed a return ticket (which I have had before from other airlines like Spirit) so I assumed everything was good to go.

AA ended up giving me the option to get a "refundable" return ticket for $1,200 or a non-refundable ticket for $345. I actually did the refundable return ticket thing before with Jet Blue and I called them the next day when I arrived in the country and they returned my money to my card which was great. However AA told me that I actually had to be in this particular airport in person to receive the $1,200 refund within a year, and I had no idea when I was coming back to this airport.

The fact they were already making me jump through hoops to get the refund instead of just letting me call didn't sit well with me so I just bought the $345 return ticket for a set date in the future. They also didn't tell me they were adding a $45 fee (always non-refundable) for buying it at the counter until after I bought it - but that's a different story.

A couple days later I realized since I already had previous experience with Jet Blue's refund system and I knew how it worked I could have just booked a return ticket on my smartphone at the AA counter and refunded it the next day, but I'm not even sure if I had time to do that because I was already late and the internet was mad slow on my phone in the airport.

Now after arriving in the country I'm pretty sure I won't be using my return flight (I'll be leaving sooner than the date it's booked) so I pretty much lost the $345. They told me at the counter at time of purchase it would be a $300 fee to change the ticket if I wanted to, LOL.

I'm trying to figure out a way I can avoid this situation in the future. I'm thinking now what I will do before any international 1 way flight is call the airline I book with ahead of time to find out if I need a return flight to fly to that particular country and then book a refundable return flight with Jet Blue or the original airline (if I have confidence I can just call and get a refund the next day).

I've heard another strategy which is just to book a bus ticket out of the country, but I've never tried this nor will it work every time if you're flying to islands or unable to locate the foreign bus company site and have it actually work to purchase a ticket. Not even sure if the airline would accept this.

So basically what I'm wondering is if anyone else has a method to get around this dilemma allowing you to freely purchase 1 way international tickets without losing money. If so please post.

Also, if you have experience with refundable tickets from any other airline besides Jet Blue please post what you had to do and how easy it was to get your refund so we can just build a list of easy-refund airlines that we can search for the cheapest return flights that we ultimately will not use.

Thanks

[Buakaw]

I read here that some guys have used this service:

https://flyonward.com/en/

Basically you "rent" a ticket for $9.99 for 48 hours. You can show this as your return ticket at the checkin counter. Never used it but this is my understanding how it works.
From their website:

Quote:

By booking an onward ticket, you need to provide us with your title, full name, date of your desired onward flight, and of course your departure country. The arrival country is optional; leave it blank and we’ll select a random one for you (recommended).

After an order is made, our staff will process the booking with your provided information. An email with your e-ticket (a PDF file) will be sent to you immediately from the airline (not from us). You can print out this ticket. The ticket will come with a “Confirmed” status which means has been paid in full. After that, you can go to the website of the airline, select “Manage My Booking” menu, input your name and booking reference code to see details of your ticket. Sounds great, right? These tickets are the real deal.

Depending on your booking option, the ticket will last for exactly 24 hours or 48 hours, so all you need to do is make sure you’re arriving at your destination within 24 hours or 48 hours of booking your onward flight with us. The ticket will be automatically canceled after that period. Contact us for a quote if you need a ticket that lasts more than 48 hours.

[gang]

Wow that's pretty sick if it works. Thanks a lot. As a back up and to be independent of this 3rd party service if needed, I'd still be interested in building a list of easy-refund airlines.

(05-17-2016 02:54 AM)Buakaw Wrote:  

I read here that some guys have used this service:

https://flyonward.com/en/

Basically you "rent" a ticket for $9.99 for 48 hours. You can show this as your return ticket at the checkin counter. Never used it but this is my understanding how it works.
From their website:

Quote:

By booking an onward ticket, you need to provide us with your title, full name, date of your desired onward flight, and of course your departure country. The arrival country is optional; leave it blank and we’ll select a random one for you (recommended).

After an order is made, our staff will process the booking with your provided information. An email with your e-ticket (a PDF file) will be sent to you immediately from the airline (not from us). You can print out this ticket. The ticket will come with a “Confirmed” status which means has been paid in full. After that, you can go to the website of the airline, select “Manage My Booking” menu, input your name and booking reference code to see details of your ticket. Sounds great, right? These tickets are the real deal.

Depending on your booking option, the ticket will last for exactly 24 hours or 48 hours, so all you need to do is make sure you’re arriving at your destination within 24 hours or 48 hours of booking your onward flight with us. The ticket will be automatically canceled after that period. Contact us for a quote if you need a ticket that lasts more than 48 hours.

[Putin Closes]

Again paying $10 for a service that can be done for free is just a plain ripoff. I am surprised people are paying for something that's by law suppose to be free.

http://www.orbitz.com . Free cancellation from 24-48 hours (depending on time of booking)

The only "catch" is you have to make sure you cancel the ticket in time.

[Beirut]

Yes that flyonward site is bs. Well i guess unless someone doesnt have the funts to book a flight on expedia or orbitz.

On expedia you can cancel most flights in 24 hours.


What sucks for me sometimes is that Visas requires a return flight. I can book it the same day as my appointment, but then im not sure if i can cancel it since i dont know if the person studying my visa will check if a flight is booked.

But if youre just flying in, book with expedia and cancel after 24 hours.

[Rawmeo]

You can just book a refundable ticket, costs more but you get it all back, so no need to worry. This way you have a ticket booked a few days in advance so you don't appear like trying to pull a scam. Just search for "refundable flights" on Expedia and pick the cheapest.

[fiveminrule]

I have had this happen as I book all of my tickets round trip originating abroad going to the US (I am a US citizen but I do not live there anymore). On the return when checking in at the counter depending on the country they will tell me that I need a return ticket because I am not allowed to stay in the country for more than 90 days because I have no visa. Even if I tell them I was going to take buses out of the country within 2 weeks they said I needed the tickets but I was buying everything last minute as I didn't want to plan.

If I go to the kiosk to check in a screen will pop up telling me that I am not allowed to stay in the destination longer than 90 days and then it asks me when I will leave the country. I type in a date a few weeks out and then it lets me print my boarding pass and I am on my way without having to provide any documentation. This is on Delta, I am not sure about other airlines.

[DennisLang]

$10 sounds like a bargain to me when I consider you won't have the hassle of getting your money back once you're done with your ticket. It's a measly sum once you consider the overall cost of traveling. Or maybe I feel this way because I've never had a good experience dealing with an airline customer service.

[LINUX]

Set up an account with United. By the ticket the day you go to the airport. You get 24 hours to cancel it. Pretty simple. No need to buy a refundable ticket.

[Putin Closes]

(05-17-2016 07:12 AM)DennisLang Wrote:  

$10 sounds like a bargain to me when I consider you won't have the hassle of getting your money back once you're done with your ticket. It's a measly sum once you consider the overall cost of traveling. Or maybe I feel this way because I've never had a good experience dealing with an airline customer service.

It takes maybe 30 seconds to cancel a ticket online via orbitz or priceline. Log in, and hit cancel trip. Should say full refund, are you sure you want to cancel. And that's it.

[CleanSlate]

(05-17-2016 04:24 AM)Beirut Wrote:  

What sucks for me sometimes is that Visas requires a return flight. I can book it the same day as my appointment, but then im not sure if i can cancel it since i dont know if the person studying my visa will check if a flight is booked.

I am thinking the exact same thing. The consulate I'm going to get a visa from requires an onward ticket, so I will have to book one before I go to my appointment, which is a few weeks before I leave the US.

What I'll do is just plan a second trip for about 2-3 months into my visa, and actually use that flight. That way I don't have to cancel, and if the airline checks the onward ticket, they'll see it's valid. I don't know if the airlines actually check onward tickets -- I heard they don't, but I've never done this before.

[elcidcampeador]

Good advice, but not all of the advice is correct.

Not all flights are covered under 24 hour cancellation policies. Use a website like Orbitz that covers all flights. Some like Delta do not cover one ways not originating in the USA. Foreign airlines often don't have this grace period.

[texas]

If you just have the one-way, once at the ticket counter just tell them your trip is open-ended and tell them you plan on using your credit card to purchase the next ticket (either a return ticket or to an entirely different 3rd location) once plans get lined up. I think most times they will let you do this if you are persuasive. I have done it multiple times on a bunch of different airlines.

[Off The Reservation]

what country

[bootyhuntah]

All good suggestions here. Another site in addition to Orbitz is http://www.expedia.com. Within 24 hrs of your flight booking, you can cancel with full refund no questions asked. I've done this a few times (Brazil, among others) in the past year alone and it was also a requirement for Philippines the last I recall as well. Some airlines will also ask for proof of onward travel before even letting you on the plane if it is an immigration requirement in the country you're headed to...

[Stakes Is High]

I've used a travel agent specifically for this purpose. Use their service to buy a flight or two and they'll gladly give you an itinerary for this specific purpose.

[Dagnasty]

"that the island country I was flying to"

OP, why can't you just say the Philippines?

We're not a bunch of girls or SJW's, you can be straight with us. Save the roundabout language for the less perceptive ones.

[BangBoy123]

Great info, love these travel hacks

[birthday cat]

There are easier ways to do this.

1) Most airlines have a policy of fully refunding any ticket purchased within 1 hour. Buy the ticket, print the ticket, and immediately cancel the ticket. The return ticket needs to be with a different airline than your departing ticket - if both tickets are with the same airline then airline employees will wonder why they don't see the other ticket in their system. I also avoid using partner airlines like United and Copa Airlines because I don't know if Copa can see your United tickets in their system.

2) Another way to create a fake return ticket is by copying and pasting the confirmation e-mail from an old flight into MS Word, changing all the details, and printing it out to use it as a fake return ticket. Example: you are flying from LAX to MEX on American Airlines and are allowed to stay in Mexico for 30 days. Copy and paste an old e-mail confirmation from a different airline such as United into MS Word, look up returning flights on United's website for MEX to LAX around 28 days after your departure, use the dates/times/connections/flight-numbers of an actual United flight to update the fake ticket in your MS Word file.

A few important points:

-A fake return ticket must be with a different airline than the departing ticket.

-The fake return ticket should be a ticket back to your home country. A return ticket is simpler than an onward ticket to another country and due to the bureaucracy of airlines and governments there are some cases where you are required to have a return ticket rather than an onward ticket.

-If you create a fake return ticket - go over all the details in your fake ticket a few times to be certain everything is accurate. Airline employees and immigration officers usually don't look closely at the ticket but there was one time I had an airline agent read through my ticket thoroughly because that country was strict with return policies.

-Be nice to airline employees. People treat airline employees like shit and over the course of many flights you can do yourself a lot of favors by treating those people nicely. I've received seat upgrades and even had a plane held for me while I was filling out paperwork to pay a reciprocity fee because I know to smile and say things like please, thank you, and I really appreciate your help. Airline employees may not know the rules and regulations as well as you think and in the case of return tickets they probably don't give a shit if your ticket is real or not.

[gang]

(05-17-2016 07:42 AM)Putin Closes Wrote:  

(05-17-2016 07:12 AM)DennisLang Wrote:  

$10 sounds like a bargain to me when I consider you won't have the hassle of getting your money back once you're done with your ticket. It's a measly sum once you consider the overall cost of traveling. Or maybe I feel this way because I've never had a good experience dealing with an airline customer service.

It takes maybe 30 seconds to cancel a ticket online via orbitz or priceline. Log in, and hit cancel trip. Should say full refund, are you sure you want to cancel. And that's it.

I just booked a flight (Caribbean Airlines) on Orbitz (that I plan on taking) to see the cancellation option. During the checkout process I saw in big blue letters "FREE 24 Hour Cancellation" but now after I purchased the ticket I see nowhere to cancel it. I purchased the ticket "as a guest" and when I look up the itinerary with my email and # I see a "Manage Reservation" link but when I click it nothing happens.

Where exactly do I find the option online to cancel? or do I have to call? Anyone know?

[Seadog]

This has happened to me twice. The first time was in St. Maarten in the Caribbean, I was boarding from the US and they demanded a return ticket. I was leaving via sailboat to Europe, and the Capt had foresaw this potentially happening so he whipped up an MS word file "ticket" and I actually didn't even use it, they just wanted to know the name of the boat.

The second time was on a flight from Italy to Kenya. Same thing, and I was leaving Kenya via an organized camping safari. He kept on asking for proof of returning to Canada, but it was sort of 7 months of random meandering around the world so really had nothing organized other than a few random flights here and there which I didn't have connecting pieces in place for. He was thoroughly confused dealing with something other then the A-B-A itinerary, but eventually let me through.

Frankly, I never understood why countries are so pedantic with regards to the return ticket rule. If I want to illegally stay in a country, $500 for a wasted ticket is a small price to pay, or even still as many people here have said, a refundable ticket accomplishes the same thing at no cost. To have such a rule that can essentially be bypassed with 10 minutes of effort is pointless.

[atlant]

The countries themselves actually are not that pedantic, usually only the airlines are because in the rare case that you do get denied entry, they are on the hook for getting you back to your country of origin.

[godzilla]

This depends on exactly what your plan is. But Eva Airlines is pretty liberal about date changes. Actually, they changed mine for free when it was far in advance. I believe the change fee is listed is at only USD100. While it doesn't apply to every airlines, usually 2 one-way tickets are more expensive then a round trip ticket. Most of us go home for a visit eventually, you would just have to leave from the same place you flew in. (This is New York-Taipei)