one way ticket to india: any problems?

lotus blossom

thank you punzelle, for sharing your experience. i suspect that it may vary from airport to airport and agent to agent.

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Nick-H

Was this at the airline checkin? They do make mistakes, and, given the requirement on the airline to fly a rejected passenger back home, those mistakes tend to be aimed at protecting themselves. This would not have anything to do with India's requirements.

Haylo

We have flown many times to India and have never been asked whether we have a return ticket. For the majority of nationalities, it is simply not an issue.

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a_f_d

here in Goa the local right-wing hindu groups have been objecting to jewelery or clothing that depicts hindu gods or symbols - including 'om'!!

AndyD 8-)#

lotus blossom

it occured stateside, departing for india, and at a major int'l airport. she said they were adament about not letting her fly on a one-way ticket and if not for her residence permit she would have been grounded.

Nick-H

But was it Govt. officials, or airline staff?

lotus blossom

not sure if it was TSA or the airline agent, but with the way things are in the u.s. airports, it doesn't seem to matter. whatever either of them say, goes. they appear to work in tandem.

Nick-H

Whilst I don't think they work together, being refused by either has, as you say, much the same effect on one's travel plans.

However, if an airline won't let you board it's plane to India because you have a one-way ticket, you have good chance of the airline management admitting that no, India does not require a return or onward ticket, which is perhaps why they thought it ok to sell you a single in the first place. Airline staff do make mistakes; they can often be corrected.

lotus blossom

it is due to post 911 politics. 'terrorists' may be traveling on a one-way ticket. when i went to india in 07' the agent was not going to allow me to fly, but let me through after talking with her supervisor. as i said, i was marked as 'high secuirty' and had all of my belongings thoroughly checked out.

this was the warning i just rec'd. on the site where i generally buy my ticket to india:

Strict entry rules apply to most countries if you are a foreign national or non-resident entering with a one-way ticket. You may be forbidden entry without a special visa. It is recommended that you use a round trip ticket whenever possible. Please check with the destination country’s consulate for details.

that seems to be what many people are being asked to produce when traveling on a one-way ticket - a special visa.

Haylo

There is definitely no such thing as a "one way ticket visa" to visit India.

Unless you are a citizen of certain adjacent countries, or arriving overland from them, the Indian authorities impose ABSOLUTELY NO requirement to have a return ticket.

What we are seeing here is the worst kind of ignorant and lazy travel agencies / airline companies, who choose to cover their own asses by imposing blanket restrictions, even though it is not necessary, because it is easier for them to do that than it is for them to bother to find out the information and take responsibility.

Nick-H

And how many countries on the world are there? And how many varieties of visa and immigration rules, varying from nothing to foreigners don't even get near, let alone past the border?

If officials at American airports are applying that sort of logic to people flying anywhere, then that is a matter for you guys to take up with the people you voted for. It is nothing to do with travel anywhere else in the world, and it is nothing to do with travel to India.

There are a couple (?) of countries in the world where the Indian consulate wants to see a return/onward ticket before the visa is granted.

If America is turning itself into a special case, with conditions on letting people out of the country, I would have thought we'd have heard more about it. We have a lot of American members.

It seems a pretty unlikely regulation: many people take flights home, or to a country that they are settling in, and have no need of any other ticket. I'd admit, of course, that unlikely, stupid, daft, ineffective, etc etc etc, do not rule out airport restrictions.

nycank

TSA agents in all the airports normally look at your boarding pass, your name, your photo ID, and now additionally age/DOB. They scan your carryon luggage, shoes, and liquids and special medications (when accompanied with a prescription) Of course they do other things behind the scene not visible to a passenger. They do not evaluate whether you have a one-way or a return ticket.

They do secondary screening under certain circumstances.

Check-in agents of US Airline carriers pretty much follow and read off their reservation-system for instructions based on the PNR. If there is a red-flag they ask / call for a supervisor.

It is too vague. Which airline, and which airport. And with respect to security, are you on a watch list ? In absence of transparency we cannot stamp out whims and actions of checkin agents, so more details the better.

No immigration/ICE/DHS even looks at your passport while leaving. An airline checkin agent is who one interacts with. And in certain special circumstances you dont even see a checkin agent. Just the security check, and gate-agent to scan your boarding pass

Some airlines might act extra-judicial in asking for a return-ticket for the following reasons:

1. Too many cases when they have to carry a passenger back on the return flight once they are refused entry plus pay a hefty penalty. As a matter of fact, UK imposes 2000GBP fine on the carrier for bringing a pax into a UK port of entry without valid passport or visa.

2. A travel advisory published from time to time.

3. If the ticket was paid in cash, and/or issued on a stock (paper) which is untrackable on their reservation system.

That aside, EL-AL security will grill you when you fly out of NYC to TLV on their metal.

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curtdfw

I flew on a last-minute (made within 48 hours of departure) one-way ticket on Lufthansa from Portland, Oregon to Delhi in 2004 (my employer had made a scheduling screw-up on the RT ticket) and there were no issues. I was on a Business visa at the time, and don't know if that had any effect. That the ticket was purchased by my employer could also have played into any screening decision.

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nycank

Frequent Flyers, and business traveler is well understood by airlines, and appreciated You expect LH to hassle you ? I'm surprised they did not send a limo to pick you up to take you to the airport.

curtdfw

Only in my dreams. Coach all the way...

There was a moderately clean Qualis waiting at the Delhi airport, though...