One Way Ticket to China?
 

Can you purchase a one way ticket to China or does your ticket have to show a return? I am getting confilicting answers. I have a client who wants a round trip ticket; however, his boss only wants to fly him one way since his return is unknown at this time. The class is in businsess class; therefore the ticket would be less to do a one way ticket.

Thanks, Carolyn
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I'm not sure why you'd book a one-way just because you don't know the date of return. Full fare tickets allow changes to return dates at no charge.

Yes, you can book one-way tickets to China.

In most cases, most of the time, view of the air ticket is not required when obtaining a visa, nor at immigration, nor do airlines refuse boarding to those holding one-way tickets but only to those who do not hold visas (or papers demonstrating a visa has been granted).

People fly in and exit overland all the time, and enter overland with no ticket of any kind, buy one there, and fly out.

Peter N-H

The return date is not a problem, it is the cost. Round trip is 10,500 versus $5500. His boss doesn't want to spend an additional $5500 if he doesn't have to right away. He'd rather wait a couple of months when his guy is ready to come back to purchase his return. Save the money for a couple of months.

The person traveling is insisting that you need a return otherwise he will not be allowed in. When I spoke to the airline directly they also confirmed that he needs a return. The boss is saying he doesn't need a return so I am caught in the middle...

Peter... What is your email address?
Are you a travel agent by any chance?

Thank you for your reply.

Carolyn

I think the point of the forum is to discuss these matters publicly, not by private email, so that other knowledgeable people may contribute and everyone benefit from shared information.

I am not a travel agent, but I am someone who travels frequently to mainland China on one-way tickets, or who enters China overland/by ferry without any ticket at all, and purchases onwards travel in China.

The last time I remember China requiring a return ticket was in 1989, although occasionally temporary difficulties are introduced, and some nationalities are under more restrictions than others, of course. Perhaps it's something to do with that? But if a return ticket really is required it's the consulate that will be requiring proof of it. If they will issue a visa without sight of a ticket, then the airline should sort itself out.

Airlines, if you ask them about this sort of issue, always tend to err on the side of caution to prevent being forced to fly you back for free. Time to change airline?

(Incidentally, a ticket purchased for outbound travel from China is likely to cost a lot less than the inbound one costs in the West. If saving money is the issue this is also something to consider.)

It's also just possible that this is an early sign (and there have been a few others) of tightening control prior to the Olympics. But again, that should be happening at the consulate, not at the airline.

Peter N-H

Hi, Peter N-H. It's been YEARS since I have seen a post by you. The information you contributed in past years made my trip to China a wonderful experience--the very best of all my trips. I printed out nearly every word you wrote and took it with me. Thanks!
Jane

My experience has been that the personnel at airline check-in counters are not as <i>au courant</i> with current regulations as the government issuing the visa, and that is where you run into problems. I have had the experience twice when <u>moving</u> to Hong Kong, of arriving at the airport to check in with, naturally, just a one way ticket, and being refused a boarding pass until I purchased a (fully refundable) return ticket. I had this same experience when moving to Switzerland despite the fact that my Swiss work permit had already been obtained and stamped into the passport, so I was clearly going to be staying.

The airlines are fined if they allow passengers to board who don't meet landing requirements, and the airlines don't always know what those requirements are; and they also tend to err on the side of caution. That is just my experince.

If you could purchase a fully refundible return ticket for your client that might solve the probelm he may encounter at check-in. He can then cash in the ticket when he arrives in the PRC. I know that low budget travellers do this all the time in countries which do require proof of onward air tickets.

I'd go with Cicerone's advice as the more reliable.

Furthermore, saving the cost now may not be worth the hassles and costs later on when the employee is ready to return.

Rules between now and the return date may change.

All kinds of things could happen in the meantime.

Having travelled frequently to Asia and other continents for business, I'd suggest that you err on the side of caution and advise the employer to purchase a RT trip.

Extracting personnel and/or equipment from another country may be a long and tortuous road when the paperwork is not clear.

This is an odd business, and it would be good to get to the bottom of it.

I can't think of any other situation in which airline personnel were trying to force unnecessary purchase of a much more highly-priced ticket and anyone would just roll over and accept that or advise others to do so. The OP's client is fortunately not in the position of standing at the check-in desk and being denied boarding, and there's time to look into this further. If right is on her side she has time to make sure her client (herself, and his boss) are dealt with fairly.

The two key issues here, which haven't been addressed, are the ones of the nationality of the traveller, and the possible recent introduction (or enforcement) of regulations requiring a return ticket. Information on experiences some time ago, by persons of different nationalities from the person in question, perhaps even departing from a different country whatever passport is held, and certainly the experience of encountering difficulties entering countries other than mainland China (except insofar as that's general evidence of airline incompetence) doesn't really help.

I've entered China with no return arrangements by air and other means more times than I can count, having bought visas (of several different types) in five different countries to do so. But perhaps none of these experiences is sufficiently recent, or perhaps none of my passports was the same as that held by the person under discussion.

I was thinking that if this person is a U.S. citizen, as seems most likely, there might be special problems. There have been a number of fluctuating nagging extra difficulties for U.S. citizens for some years now, and perhaps this is one. Or perhaps the problem is one of departing from the U.S. The nearest relevant information I can provide from personal experience is that a colleague who is a U.S. citizen flew in on a one-way ticket in July last year with no problem at all, but that's a long time ago in regulations terms. (I flew there much more recently but I'm not a U.S. citizen and I was on a return ticket on this occasion.)

So if just giving up on this and paying a lot more for ticket than necessary is either not desired, or due to pressure from above not possible (rendering any debate about best practice irrelevant), the line of enquiry should surely be this:

First confirm with a visa issuing authority (a consulate or an agency) that no proof of return travel is currently necessary for citizens of whatever the client's country of origin. I'd say 'get it in writing' but from a Chinese consulate that would be a headache.

If the answer is that no, no such proof is currently required, then go ahead and purchase the one-way ticket. In China the checks have always been done at consulate level. During periods when proof of this or that is required, it's at the time the application is made, not at the immigration desk, that proofs have been required.

If the airline will still not sell a one-way ticket then head up the hierarchy complaining bitterly (or choose a different airline) until someone is found who knows what he or she is talking about, and get passed down from that route to someone who will sell the ticket.

The fear has next been raised that boarding will be denied even if a one-way ticket is held. I've only ever experienced checks that my visa was current when I've flown one-way into China, but I would suggest that this issue is tackled at the same time the ticket is purchased, and on the grounds that ticket agents seem to think that a return is necessary that the airline be asked to provide means to ensure that no such denial takes place.

In the end, supposing the facts to be on the client's boss's side (and it would be interesting to hear here what is discovered, and how this is resolved), and if notions of justice are set aside, this may resolve itself into the question of what's less effort: arguing with the airline or changing the client's boss's mind.

There's not much here that's likely to help with the latter project, however. Once in China, as long as the client has a valid visa, there's no change of regulation that can possibly be relevant. And as long as he exits before his visa expires, then buying a ticket out is as simple as walking up to a counter and putting down money and the relevant passport: rather simpler than the situation being encountered at home, it would seem.

Good luck with this. Round-the-world travellers, overlanders (Silk Routes) to Central Asia, or Hong Kong, or Vietnam, often buy one-way tickets into China, so many will be interested to hear about the final result.

Peter N-H

If your passenger is a US citizen, - and not to spend too many words on this - the problem is RETURNING to the US, especially after 9/11 and the multiple &quot;Homeland Security&quot; measures that are in place.

What China requires is a totally different matter.

One solution is to get a kind of &quot;Circle Pacific&quot; pass for around $5000-$6000, business class. This allows travel within a certain period of time, usually one year, and allows for multiple stops in a &quot;unidirection&quot;, i.e., can't backtrack. Using this pass your client could travel to Tokyo then to Beijing/Shanghai. On the return leg, as long as it is within a year, return Beijing/Shanghai to Hong Kong and back to the States.

Google for &quot;round the world airfare&quot; and you should come up with a number of companies that offer these &quot;good for one year&quot; tickets.

This should probably solve your problem.

&gt; If your passenger is a US citizen, - and not to spend too many words on this - the problem is RETURNING to the US, especially after 9/11 and the multiple &quot;Homeland Security&quot; measures that are in place.

So the advice here is that regardless of whether a U.S. citizen wants or needs to spend a lot of money on a return rather than one-way ticket to China, he or she should do so because some existing or forthcoming U.S. immigration regulation will discriminate between U.S. citizens holding the return halves of tickets bought in the U.S., and U.S. citizens holding one-way tickets bought in China?

I must admit I'm very puzzled by this.

Many people fly to China on one-way tickets for all sorts of reasons, and many buy return tickets to the U.S. in China (is that going to be a problem?)

What sort of 'problem' can these people expect to encounter when returning home?

Peter N-H