Mild Panic...

...I am going to JFK tomorrow (VS045)on reward ticket, then onward to Austin and Vegas, returning around the 10th January.

Virgin insist I must have a return ticket or I will be refused entry into the US. My plan was just to try and pick up some late-release reward inventory before my flight home or at worst pay for a ticket if that was fruitless.

Do you think I will be refused entry without a return ticket tomorrow?

Thanks

Bombo

[mcmbenjamin]

Travelers may also be asked to provide evidence of onward travel

from: Visa Waiver Program

You could book the return section of the reward and change it for USD50. Just make sure you leave with in the period you are allowed in.

Will you be refused? Will the ask for proof? Your guess is good as mine but if you do not have it I assume there maybe problems. Always could buy a o/w full Y.

[fozzyo]

I've never had any experience of such a requirement. Previous comments on such matters I've seen on other sites is to show you have somewhere to stay, sufficient funding for your stay to show you aren't planning on doing any work while in the states (i know people who take bank statements, credit card statements showing available spend etc).

Because you don't have a return ticket if questioned I'd just ensure you have enough documentation / knowledge to show your intentions. How do you intend to arrange travel home etc?

Hope everything is ok.

Mat xxx

[ChuckC]

Minel,
I believe VS is correct. This site provides information on USA entry requirements and states that you must have a visa if you are using a one-way ticket. Perhaps you could take advantage of a US-purchased return economy ticket that could be applied toward future travel if you are fortunate to get the reward flight you're seeking. If you book by January 10, a VS Holiday Sale return from JFK will cost you GBP163.

Perhaps others here will be more encouraging.

Chuck-

[fozzyo]

Originally posted by ChuckC
Minel,
I believe VS is correct. This site provides information on USA entry requirements and states that you must have a visa if you are using a one-way ticket.

Well i learnt something today. Thanks Chuck.

Mat xxx

That would be one possibility Chuck, although can a UK citizen buy a US ticket?. The other, as previously suggested, of buying a full Y seems appealing. ISTBC, but it is fully refundable, so you just buy it on your credit card, carry it to the US then cancel it. With luck and a fair wind the refund should hit the credit card in the same month as the charge. At worst the cost is a few days interest on the charge. Then buy the return ticket you want in the US, which of course may well be the promo one as you suggest.

Thanks to you all:

I have bitten the bullet and bought a fully-refundable o/w economy with BA which I will then cancel on the 6th January when safely ensconced in The States. What a complete waste of everybody's time!

[Decker]

Theory is that terrorists planning on blowing up planes economise by buying a one way ticket....[:0]

Originally posted by minel
What a complete waste of everybody's time!

Yep - that's true enough.[:#]

Mind you - using BA to waste time - class![oo]

[preiffer]

Originally posted by Decker
Theory is that terrorists planning on blowing up planes economise by buying a one way ticket....[:0]

The irony being that it's probably cheaper to buy the return... [:I]

I have been caught out with this before leaving Hong Kong for LAX with no ticket out of the US. It took me a while to convince the check-in staff but they eventually turned a blind eye.

[mcmbenjamin]

Well sure but funny how Canada falls under the radar in the media.
Canada's API/PNR Program

It seams to me that about every country has a 'Evidence of onward travel bookings from Xxxxx or proof of funds for onward travel' entry rule. IMHO it does not have much (if anything) to do with terrorism but the fact that people cannot work under a 'Visit, Holiday' entry. They want to person to have a way to go somewhere else so they do not become a social burden.

[preiffer]

I've had a couple of "interesting debates" with Immigration Canada when I didn't have a direct return ticket in the past. No better than the US (although I have to say, the whole process is genuinely quicker and feels a lot less intrusive).

[mcmbenjamin]

And to enter the UK: Persons seeking to enter or remain in the United Kingdom for visits

(vii) can meet the cost of the return or onward journey.

So 385USD LHR-DUB-JFK 25JAN on Aer Lingus o/w cheapest (you still need to get to London)
or 418USD JFK-LHR-JFK 17JAN/24JAN on Virgin return, non-stop

AA is the cheapest at 383USD return 17JAN/24JAN BTW

I think you've done the right thing Bombo - even if you could pursuade immigration (and I think it's as much to do with immigration as the threat from terrorists, the rule has been around a long time) you might face a long, and at times nasty experience. A girlfriend of mine who works for one very high-end travel company (and travels constantly) flew into Florida from the Caribbean once on a one-way ticket, to pick up a ticket onward to the UK from a colleague already in the States - her account of her treatement was appallingly to hear and she was 'held' for about 12 hours.

[Scrooge]

Originally posted by sailor99
That would be one possibility Chuck, although can a UK citizen buy a US ticket?.

Ummm....yes ,maybe you mean resident?

A bit late now, but I have been asked to show my return ticket to London twice since 9/11.

Once at Gatwick when boarding, and once in Orlando at Immigration.

Originally posted by sailor99
can a UK citizen buy a US ticket?.

Well I purchased jetBlue tickets last year to use between Orlando & Boston.

However, don't know whether once in America you can buy a Virgin ticket on the US site as everytime I access it it defaults to the UK site

[RichardMannion]

Yes you can buy a US based fare - I have travelled into the US before on a one way reward ticket, and then flown out on a US based revenue fare. In 100+ trips to the US, I have never been asked to show my return ticket but have been asked ona few occasions to show that I had sufficeint funds to buy a ticket etc.

Yes it is alaso genrally true to say that its cheaper to buy a return than a one way.

Thanks,
Richard

Originally posted by RichardMannion
In 100+ trips to the US, I have never been asked to show my return ticket but have been asked ona few occasions to show that I had sufficeint funds to buy a ticket etc.

I thought it was one of the jobs of the securicor guy before VS check-in, to check that you have a return booked/comply with immigration requirements?[:?]

Out of interest what proof did they request to show you had funds to purchase a return?

[Decker]

Out of interest what proof did they request to show you had funds to purchase a return? Is this like the Private Eye letters spoof where someone asks to see a picture "of an elderly man demonstrating reaching out across cultural boundaries with a younger woman" or similar...?

How do YOU think LRoM proves he has enough funds? [:0][:p][}:)]

[Scrooge]

Originally posted by Decker
[i]

How do YOU think LRoM proves he has enough funds? [:0][:p][}:)]

His mother flies with him so she could back up his story [:I]

Whilst I fully agree that it is correct that you do need a return ticket when entering us, this is not primarily for terrorism reasons. It is primarily for immigration reasons. Obvioulsy the US if the best place in the world and who in their right mind would want to leave once they enter. Holding a return ticket shows the US immigration that you have no choice but to leave their country again....

There is of course one way to 'workaround' this problem that no one has mentioned. I will not be posting that 'workaround' here but if you think a little more simply than most of you are thinking I am sure someone can come up with it.

Paul

I have to say, even though I agree it is more about immigration than terrorism, the rule still seems silly to me. Can illegal immigrants not fund short term purchases of fully refundable tickets? And in these days of e-tickets, which are hardly the most secure and fraud-free documents[:w], exactly what does a return ticket really signify. And why not just fly to, say, Mexico and walk across - you don't need to show a return ticket crossing the boarder on foot.

Originally posted by sailor99
And in these days of e-tickets, which are hardly the most secure and fraud-free documents[:w],

See I knew someone would be on the same wavelength.[}:)]

Paul