Travellers with luggage trolleys queueing at airport check in desks

Before you go · step 2

Proof that you are leaving again

4 of the countries on this site will not let you in without something that shows you are leaving, and it is almost never the border that asks. It is the check in desk, back home, before you have even boarded. Here is what gets asked where, the three ways to sort it, and how to pick one.

The three ways Which countries ask

Check in, somewhere in Europe

  • 4 countries Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia
  • At check in The airline asks before the border does
  • From $16 A reservation, not a ticket
  • 48 hours So buy it late, not early
Why they care

The airline has more at stake than you do

If immigration turns you away, the airline that brought you has to fly you home again at its own expense, and gets fined on top. That is why a check in desk looks harder at this than a border does. Hardly anybody gets stopped in Bangkok. People get stopped in Amsterdam, Manchester and Dublin, at a desk two hours before a flight they have already paid for.

It also means nobody can promise you it will be checked. Some desks wave you straight through, others want to see it on a screen. Which one you get is luck, and the cost of being unlucky is the whole trip. That is the entire argument for spending fifteen euros on something you will probably never have to show anyone.

Where it gets asked

4 of the 13 countries want to see one

Straight out of the visa page, so the two can never end up saying different things. These are the official entry conditions, not our reading of them.

  • Thailand

    Required

    You have to be able to show that you leave Thailand within your 30 days, with a return or onward ticket.

    30 days

    See the full visa rules

  • Vietnam

    Required

    You can only enter visa free with a return or onward ticket.

    45 days

    See the full visa rules

  • Philippines

    Required

    You have to show your onward ticket when you arrive.

    30 days

    See the full visa rules

  • Malaysia

    Required

    You have to be able to show a return or onward ticket when you arrive.

    90 days

    See the full visa rules

The other 9 do not ask

Which is not the same as nobody ever asking. A one way ticket into a country with no requirement can still get you a question at check in, and having something to show is the difference between a conversation and a problem.

Prices and terms from onwardticket.com, checked on 13 September 2026. Which countries ask comes from the entry conditions on our visa page.

The buying window

Buying early is money thrown away

A rented reservation is valid for 48 hours and then cancels itself. It has to still be alive at the moment somebody asks for it, and the first of those moments is the check in desk. Put your flight in and this page works the window out for you.

The local departure time of your first flight out. Flying with a stopover? Take the very first departure, because that is where you are standing at the desk.

  1. Buying makes sense from here

    24 hours before departure

    Earlier works, but then your reservation has already expired by the time you are standing at immigration on the other side.

  2. It has to exist by here

    About 3 hours before departure

    The moment you check in and the airline asks. Onward Ticket delivers in a couple of minutes, but do not plan any drama into this.

  3. Here it expires

    48 hours after you buy

    The reservation is cancelled automatically. You do not have to cancel anything and nothing gets charged.

Three ways

Pick the one that fits

In the order most people end up choosing them. We work with the first one, which is exactly why the other two are standing right next to it.

1

Rent a reservation

From $16, about €14

You fill in your route and a few minutes later you have a real reservation with a booking code, made by a registered travel agency with one of the hundred or so airlines they work with. You can look it up on that airline's own site, which is precisely what the desk does.

Watch out. What you are buying is a reservation and not a ticket. Their own terms say an e-ticket number is never issued, and if you do not convert it within 48 hours it cancels itself. So you cannot fly on it, and buying it early does nothing for you.

Sort your onward ticket
2

Buy an actually cheap flight

Usually €25 to €60

Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur, Hanoi to Bangkok, Manila to Singapore. Within Asia those are short hops for very little money. You have a real ticket, there is nothing to explain to anybody, and you might even use it.

We have not built our own booking page for this internationally yet, so for now you sort this one wherever you normally book.

3

A bus or a boat

Often under €20

The entry conditions say return or onward ticket and name no vehicle at all. If you are carrying on overland, a booked bus or ferry into the next country is onward travel too.

Watch out. At a check in desk a flight works faster, because they can find it in their own system. And flying into the Philippines this will not help you at all.

We have not built our own booking page for this internationally yet, so for now you sort this one wherever you normally book.

We work with Onward Ticket. Book through that link and we get a small commission at no extra cost to you, and the two alternatives above stay on this page precisely because of it. Read how we handle that.

The timing

48 hours, so this is the last thing you do

A rented reservation lives for 48 hours and then cancels itself, without you having to do anything. So you count backwards from the moment somebody can ask for it, and that moment is the check in desk, not the border. The day before you fly is right. Three weeks before, bought at the same time as your visa, is money thrown away.

There is a receive later option if you want to buy now and have it arrive nearer the time, but it has to be activated at least six days before your travel date. Read that one twice before you rely on it.

Buying a real flight is the other way round: do that as early as you like, because a cheap hop only ever gets more expensive.

What goes wrong

Six ways to still get caught out

None of these is exotic. They are the six things that turn a sorted onward ticket back into a problem at the desk.

  • Bought weeks in advance

    A rented reservation lives 48 hours and is then cancelled automatically. Buy it the day before you fly, not alongside your visa.

  • Name not quite as it is in your passport

    The reservation has to match your passport exactly, middle names included. One letter is enough to start a conversation you would rather not be having.

  • A screenshot of a search engine

    A price comparison site is not a booking. Without a reference the airline can actually look up, you are holding nothing.

  • Thinking the border is the problem

    It goes wrong at check in at home far more often than at immigration on arrival. The airline has to fly you back at its own cost, so it looks harder than the border does.

  • Only on your phone, with no signal

    Save the confirmation as a pdf, screenshot it, print it if you are the printing type. Airport wifi is exactly as good as you expect it to be.

  • Underestimating the Philippines

    The onward ticket gets checked there more than anywhere else in the region, often already at the gate in Europe. If you sort one country properly, make it that one.

Common questions

One more thing

Is renting a reservation legal?

It is a real reservation with a real airline, made by a registered travel agency, and you can look it up on that airline's own site. What you are not buying is a ticket: Onward Ticket's own terms say an e-ticket number is never issued and that the reservation cancels itself after 48 hours if you do not convert it. Those same terms also ask that you could genuinely want to fly it. If you already know for certain that you never will, a cheap real flight is the more honest answer, and it is not much more money.

How long is it valid?

48 hours. After that the reservation is cancelled automatically and you do not have to do anything about it. So count back from the moment somebody can ask, which is the check in desk. There is an option to have it arrive later, but that has to be activated at least six days before your travel date.

Does a bus or boat ticket count?

For the border, usually yes: the entry conditions say return or onward ticket and do not name a vehicle. For a check in desk it is weaker, because they cannot look it up in their own system. Crossing overland into Cambodia or Laos, a booked bus is fine. Flying into Manila, get a flight.

What if I just do not have one?

Then it comes down to the desk. Plenty of people fly to Bangkok on a one way ticket and nobody says a word. Plenty of others get stopped and buy something expensive on their phone while the queue watches. It is a gamble where the downside is your whole trip and the upside is fifteen euros, which is why most people stop gambling after the first time.

Can I buy a refundable ticket and cancel it?

You can, and people do. Buy a fully flexible fare, show it, cancel it once you have landed. It works, it is entirely above board, and it ties up two or three hundred euros of your money for a week or two while the refund finds its way back. If you have that headroom it is the cleanest option there is. Most backpackers do not.

Does this count as my visa as well?

No. An onward ticket is an entry condition, not a visa. In Thailand you can be asked for both: the ticket at check in and your visa or visa exemption at the border. The visa page works out which of the two you need per country, for your passport.

One thing left

Sort it the night before and forget about it

Whichever of the three you pick, have it on your phone as a pdf and printed if you are the printing type. Then the desk asks, you show it, and you are through in ten seconds. It is the cheapest peace of mind on this entire site.

Sort your onward ticket Back to travel prep