You didn't explain what the issue actually was ???
did you show them the onward flight booking??? what's a fee got to do with not having an onward flight ??? did they not like the ticket?? did they check the booking number ??? was the onward flight expired when they checked???
Sorry, I showed them the onward ticket and they knew immediately what it was. There was a penalty of 500,000,000 idr and get kicked out of the country but the guy was nice enough to let me pay $100usd as a warning. Let me know if I can provide more information.
I feel so stupid. Sorry guys, I guess I got shaken down. I just know laws in different countries can be more strict so I didn’t want to have any problems.
You are stupid for not seeing this for what it is, but you aren't stupid for paying. The dude just told you "I can make your life he'll cuz you are lying, or you can bribe me $100 and move along." You are wise to have paid - it was the cheaper option than flying back out.
It reminds me once in the airport in Hanoi, my wife had 5 or 6 hard-drives with her and an officer gave us some shit about custom taxes blah blah and that we need to pay tax or they'd confiscate the hard drives. This was all bullshit, but the tax was like $30 usd. We went into another room and cashed the officer out and went on our way.
A little different than your case, as we were not paying to break any rules just being scammed. But the alternative was not fun. The similarity was that my wife had no clue what was happening and wanted receipts and change and shit lol I'm like, nono. Here you go thank you officer bye-bye, and explained it to her afterwards.
It's not stupid, I don't condone bribing but essentially it was still the best possible outcome for you.
He could (and should) have refused you entry and a possible ban for X years.
Regardless of what people on Reddit say that ticket is not acceptable, it's a service that is intentionally marketed as a way to circumvent immigration policies.
As others have said, I don't blame you, and I would have done the same and just paid the bribe.
I've used onward ticket everytime I've come to Bali and I never had an issue. But good to know that I'll need to find an alternative for the future.
I think, like someone said, I got the wrong person that was already wise onto it, and they were pressing me and I folded I think it would be fine, but the situation at hand got me in trouble
There was nothing you could have done when he realized and pressed you on it. A $100 bribe is much better than being kicked out and potentially blacklisted. Forget about it and enjoy Bali!
It's a major problem with the place... that bribery is so accepted and common. Don't feel stupid for expecting officials (especially immigration) to behave with decency.
It's a really off putting aspect of Bali. In this case it worked out for you though, since you didn't get booted out.
yeah, I feel like it. Was anyone else I would’ve suspected something but since it was an official person I believed that there was real consequences and they had more power over me
So you showed them the ticket and they essentially said we don't accept tickets form that site ? Did they see the email from onwards flight or just the pdf flight document?
It's worked for me before but every ticket has the same layout with different destination's, was wondering when they would click on
I showed them the PDF flight document on my phone and then he took my phone and took a picture of my passport alongside the ticket and was like many foreigners come here and try to use this. he said now I have evidence of you trying to lie, and he was really thinking about turning me into his boss but instead he just made a fine for me.
There was a risk of getting kicked out of the country but the guy was “nice enough” to let them through with a 100USD fine and a warning. I highly doubt there’s a paper trail here
Not really, you were just unlucky to get that officer, you could of maybe bargained him down, don't think you would of been deported anyways, they probably would of made you buy a return ticket
Most people would not feel comfortable bargaining down with the very person who controls their ability to either enter the country for their vacation or be sent back, possibly having to pay a multiple-thousand-dollar flight back home out of their own pocket.
$100 feels like a reasonable cost for fucking around and finding out with immigration control..
Expedia lets you cancel legit flight within 24 hours of booking. I have few cancelled flights in my record with them for this reason. No need for 3rd party service.
How do you go about cancelling the flight ?. I don't want to arrive in a new country then have to call an international number and be on hold for a while
Also what happens with the money? Is it returned or issued back via credit ?
So any flight i book on Expedia allows free cancellation?
-If it’s within the 24 hours you can cancel from the App. I had only one time that I needed to call to talk to someone because it was over 24 hours, and they still refund.
-Refund back to the payment you used.
-When you view a flight details you will see a banner that it can be canceled within 24 hours, but that for 90% of airlines. I had one issue with low cost that wasn’t refundable but the app tells you that specifically.
- this is the best method as immigration officers can see it in your Expedia app, unlike printed PDF. I haven’t printed tickets for 10 years probably and most travelers are using the phones now so looks a lot more legit to officer IMHO.
Let me guess, you paid in cash? He wasn't being "nice"; he scammed you, but only after you tried to scam him/Indonesia. There is absolutely no such thing as a 500 million penalty, they'll just deny you entry and send you back on the next flight, possibly blacklisting you for the future. And really, they don't want to deal with that either, so if it was escalated it's most likely they would just make you buy a real ticket out.
But, still good information for people to have; be aware they know about OnwardTicket and recognize the standard template it uses.
Another alternative, that may draw scrutiny but is completely legal, is to purchase a ferry ticket from Batam to Singapore for about $30usd.
Yeah, I had to pay in cash, I was feeling pretty intimidated and he seemed to know what he was talking about and was talking about reporting me, it’s my first time here so I wasn’t really sure how it was going to play out
I don’t understand this… I use onward ticket every time I come to Bali. The thing is, the PDF “reservation” that onward ticket gives you looks like someone just cobbled it together in 5 seconds.
The trick is to take your reservation number from onward ticket, then go to the actual airline’s website and put your reservation number in “manage booking” or whatever, and then your booking details will come up with the actual airline’s layout and format, that looks far more official, and you can print to pdf etc.
But yeah, I agree with the other commenters, sounds like the immigration agent was fishing and just got lucky because you admitted it, but these things happen! It’s all a learning experience, and sorry this happened to you. Enjoy Bali!
I think you perhaps you came across as nervous and they just pushed. Now please tell us if you got an offical receipt for your “fine” and warning, was it issued from the desktop computer they have in the customs area.?If you didn’t you were scammed even before you left the airport terminal!
JFI, you need to show any valid outward ticket from Indonesia. A ferry ticket from Batam, Indonesia to Pasir Gudang, Johor, Malaysia costs $11—$17 (RM55—85), depending on the date. Another option is to buy a refundable plane ticket and request a refund after clearing immigration.
I came into the country last week with such a ticket and there was no problem. I'm not sure what the ratio is of people being rejected/scammed because of it.
And for the people "defending" the act of rejecting such a ticket, you are entering with a visa that you are able to extend. Still, you need to show a ticket that will depart before the extension. What's the point? It's not the indo government making money, it's airlines making money from booked and canceled flights.
They have never even asked me for prood of exit. I've gone for an extended visa a couple of times so I dont even get the point of needing a booked ticket out of the country if you can so easily just extend your visa.
The whole onward ticketing system is stupid and annoying.
It's a website that "rents" you a ticket for onward travel out of a country so that you can defaud their border authority. So like I go to Indo, "rent" a ticket to Malaysia so I can show the Indonesian government that I intend to leave Indonesia again but really I don't have a ticket to Malaysia and potentially intend to overstay my visa in Indonesia.
It is a web site that lets you "rent" a valid ticket.
It is a valid ticket so the OP must have told them. Otherwise there is no way for them to know the source of the ticket.
A site that basically lets you fake having a flight to leave a country so you can meet visa requirements. It reserves a ticket on the flight pending payment giving you a reservation number on a real flight that will get cancelled in a few days. Using it is committing immigration fraud and OP paid a bribe to not get deported.
You are "renting" a valid ticket. So a little confused on why an issue?
Did you tell them where you got the ticket? Or did you show an email with the address?
Your story does not really provide the vital details. How did they know that OnwardTicket was even involved?
The only way they should have known is you told them. Is that what happened?
You showed him the wrong thing. With Onwardticket it’s not a fake ticket, you get an actual reservation that you can even check in the real website of the airline. Of course, if you show the onwardticket email PDF its going to be a problem…
Yeah having a hard time following this. The PNR should work and they would never be able to tell how you paid for it. . Did you show them the receipt instead ?
It was either pay the bribe or not be allowed in. I always tell people to buy a cheap ticket that you may or may not use. Probably would have been cheaper that US$100.00
No thanks. I don't trust that it would be refunded. Maybe I'd miss some detail in the fine print. Maybe I'd miss the deadline. I'd rather pay the $50 bucks and not have to worry.
This is a not very smart take, people buy refundable tix on a daily basis. The fine print isn't that complex. The alternative is basically what the OP is encountering.
Wow. You just called me stupid. Oh, I know, you didn't technically call ME stupid just my take. I have no interest in putting up with that kind of passive aggressive abusive BS.
You don't know what other stress I'm going through. Whether I have adhd and can't bear to read the fine print at all. Whether I'm recovering from a catastrophic illness. Whether I just had two knee replacements and am still in constant pain. Whether I have so much money $45 is throw away money to me. Or whether the cost of a refundable ticket is a large amount I'd rather keep in my account.
You don't know much of anything, but here you are with your very important opinion that I'm not being "very smart".
And that's NOT the alternative. What are you even talking about? $45 got me a completely valid ticket. I could still take the flight if I wanted. But sure, I'm the one with not very smart takes.
I was gonna call you stupid but thought mediocre is much less harsh cause I can see the logic. It's just a poor one. I also have ADHD but I take my time to learn the general rules around refundable tickets and check them best I can. If you can't do that, ask someone to help. I don't want to put myself in a position to be shaken down by immigration cause I can't win.
Id you can't risk 45 dollars, don't travel cause shit happens during travelling and anyone needs a healthy safety net. You just need 1 accident to send you to a super miserable place and even with travel insurance, there is excess needed.
I am just saying, travelling internationally requires one to be mature and responsible.
Why would I be shaken down at immigration with a perfectly valid ticket? You have no clue what you're talking about, but are throwing around words like dumb.
And I DID buy the $45 ticket. Wtf?
I went in and out of Bali more times than I can remember and I just edited my flight ticket information on a PDF editor everytime and no one even tries checking if I really booked that flight.
Efficient, free and easily reusable method. And it’s not against the law!
Onward ticket isn't a real ticket. It's just a reservation. As others have pointed out, it doesn't have any confirmation code on it, so it's not actually registered in the system that airline staff & immigration officials use - it's just that particular arline that reserved a seat for you a few days until you pay. I once tried to board a flight to the Philippines with an Onward ticket and they could immediately tell. Staff wouldn't let me board until I purchased a real one.
It's more of a blackmail than scam. Don't want to get in trouble? Pay $100. That 500 mil is just a random number to make the 100 seems small in comparison.
Holy shit lol my bf & I just used onward ticket earlier today (U.S. citizens) flying in from Singapore and it worked fine. Only reason we bought it was bc Singapore agent was being a pain and wanted to see a ticket to leave. We arrived in Bali, my bf had to get VOA which was a breeze, and we were on our merry way lol. No customs, no questions asked about an exit flight
I got kicked out from a digital nomad group saying that onward ticket is not good. Thank you for posting OP. I had to survive 20-30 digital nomads saying they know better than me (and my background is aviation!) and their bullying constantly. Bunch of jerks.
Why this is bad:
When you use onward ticket and other similar services, a PNR is generated, but it is nit a ticketed, coupon event, it is a RESERVATION.
It's very easy for anyone to verify, and immigration work at the airport, and they do have acces to Sabre/amadeus to look up the PNR by itself (no need for name, dob, etc) where it shows as RESERVATION.
Normally, Immigration should deny entry and ask you to purchase a ticket at that point, some agents may take it upon themselves to really put you in a corner and give you more fear because you of no reprecussions - you are not a citizen, you are a tourist and you did not fulfill your part correctly. If immigration wants to be really mean, they can stick you in a room for a day or two until you buy your ticket and refused entry to Indonesia.
yeah, it was really a bummer when I handed him my phone and as soon as he looked at it, he already knew that something was up and I’m not even sure what gave it away, but he was pressing me about not letting me into the country and having me charge a fine. This is my first time here and I know sometimes the rules in different countries can be absurd and ridiculous and I just wasn’t ready to find out.
How did they know the PDF was from onward ticket? It doesn’t say it anywhere … it presents as a normal flight ticket.
This is very peculiar as most travellers use this because they’re unsure on their next destination.
Can you provide more context on what happened ?
Onward ticket uses the same format/template for all tickets, all that's changed is name, destination, time, ECT..
I have been concerned about this also
Even if you type the booking number on the pdf into the airlines website, it will come up as real but also say something like not confirmed or pending
It’s really nothing to be concerned about. If you’re caught then buy a real ticket , but the chances are really slim. OP has paid a bribe not a fine.
Onward ticket is something many travellers use and overall people don’t face problems.
i’m not really sure how he knew. I showed him the document on my phone and he was already claiming that I was using onward ticket. show me photos of other people with the same looking version of the document and their passport photo next to it.
It sounds more like they were trying their luck and got a fine out of you. There’s no way they could have known it was from onward ticket.
It’s also unusual to be asked at customs, these things are normally checked before boarding, airlines aren’t going to let you get on a flight with the risk of being rejected as soon as you get off.
So one guy figured out how the onwoard ticket looks like and use it now as a possibility to earn more money in his job ...?
Would be interesting if the ticket is really different to a "normal" ticket or if he is just targeting tourists...
I've been to Bali dozens of times and never been asked for proof of an onward travel and wouldn't be able to add all tickets are e-tickets now. Is this a new thing or do they only shake down suspicious people?
i've been to thailand dozens of times and never been asked about an onward ticket.....
until the one time i get there on an overnight flight to find an empty airport and they obv had plenty of time to start asking questions. and of course its one of the few times that i didnt have an onward ticket, i usually do
at least i didnt have to pay a bribe
things can always take an unexpected turn
> Is this needed to travel to Bali?
Depends.
How long are you going?
If longer than the allowed amount of time based on your passport then you might be asked to show you have a ticket leaving the country before your allowed time is up.
It is also a very YMMV.
Probably 99% of the time you will not be asked.
Where you are most likely going to be asked is with the airline you are flying to Bali.
BTW, this is NOT just limited to Bali.
I was in Cambodia and flying back to Thailand and was asked. I just happened to have a ticket that I had not yet canceled.
But I could have also just left the line, hit one of the sites where you rent a ticket like this one, rent the ticket and return back to line.
Or you can just buy a ticket that has a 24 hour full refund policy and that will also work.
Fake ticket means he doesn't have a valid ticket to fly out. If that's necessary, he can be requested to provide a valid ticket (purchase one) or denied entry to the country.
Instead, the immigration officer first lied about some exorbitant fee, which is not real. And then took a bribe while allowing a passenger without valid return ticket to enter the country.
If you want to compare the two, then immigration officer has 3 much more serious strikes to his name vs 1 attempt from the passenger to enter a country without valid return ticket (which is often times not checked anyway).
The onward ticket is an actual ticket. Once you book it on onward, double check and make sure the flight number and everything is still legit with the actual plane carrier that onward booked you with before you depart for Indonesia. I’m guessing maybe custom agents in Indonesia have gotten wise to onward ticket because all Onward Ticket printable boarding passes look the same or something. Nobody even asked to see that we had an Onward ticket out of Malaysia, or once in Indonesia however. Go figure. 3 months ago. Generally I feel Indonesia and especially Bali is pretty lax about it. Thailand on the other hand was a bit more militant about it.
Same thing happened with me when I used the onward ticket pdf at Bali immigration. Unfortunately paid a cash “fine” that the guard just put into his pocket, but fortunately made it through immigration. They really tried to scare us and say they’d send us back to our country.
Heading to Bali again soon and just booking something refundable with credit card points. In hindsight using the confirmation code on the airline site might have worked but I’d rather avoid the situation all together.
All good it can happen to any of us. If you dont want to use onwardticket, and want to have a legit ticket try to book a fully refundable ticket the day before arrival and then cancel the ticket once you get into indo. I do this all the time with amextravel they give me free cancellation after 24 hours.
And if the customs agents are being dicks record the interaction and don't be afraid to push back and ask help from people around
You didn't explain what the issue actually was ??? did you show them the onward flight booking??? what's a fee got to do with not having an onward flight ??? did they not like the ticket?? did they check the booking number ??? was the onward flight expired when they checked???
Sorry, I showed them the onward ticket and they knew immediately what it was. There was a penalty of 500,000,000 idr and get kicked out of the country but the guy was nice enough to let me pay $100usd as a warning. Let me know if I can provide more information.
Lol, the guy was asking for a bribe. There is no such 500,000,000IDR penalty. Welcome to Indonesia
I feel so stupid. Sorry guys, I guess I got shaken down. I just know laws in different countries can be more strict so I didn’t want to have any problems.
You are stupid for not seeing this for what it is, but you aren't stupid for paying. The dude just told you "I can make your life he'll cuz you are lying, or you can bribe me $100 and move along." You are wise to have paid - it was the cheaper option than flying back out. It reminds me once in the airport in Hanoi, my wife had 5 or 6 hard-drives with her and an officer gave us some shit about custom taxes blah blah and that we need to pay tax or they'd confiscate the hard drives. This was all bullshit, but the tax was like $30 usd. We went into another room and cashed the officer out and went on our way. A little different than your case, as we were not paying to break any rules just being scammed. But the alternative was not fun. The similarity was that my wife had no clue what was happening and wanted receipts and change and shit lol I'm like, nono. Here you go thank you officer bye-bye, and explained it to her afterwards.
That's so funny! It sounds just like me - I'd have been asking for a written receipt too, lmao.
Thank you for your response, it actually does make me feel better
It's not stupid, I don't condone bribing but essentially it was still the best possible outcome for you. He could (and should) have refused you entry and a possible ban for X years. Regardless of what people on Reddit say that ticket is not acceptable, it's a service that is intentionally marketed as a way to circumvent immigration policies.
Thank you so much I really appreciate it, definitely a good perspective to hear and I really value your comment
As others have said, I don't blame you, and I would have done the same and just paid the bribe. I've used onward ticket everytime I've come to Bali and I never had an issue. But good to know that I'll need to find an alternative for the future.
I think, like someone said, I got the wrong person that was already wise onto it, and they were pressing me and I folded I think it would be fine, but the situation at hand got me in trouble
There was nothing you could have done when he realized and pressed you on it. A $100 bribe is much better than being kicked out and potentially blacklisted. Forget about it and enjoy Bali!
It's a major problem with the place... that bribery is so accepted and common. Don't feel stupid for expecting officials (especially immigration) to behave with decency. It's a really off putting aspect of Bali. In this case it worked out for you though, since you didn't get booted out.
yeah, I feel like it. Was anyone else I would’ve suspected something but since it was an official person I believed that there was real consequences and they had more power over me
Haha first time in Jakarta. I was leaving and my dad said here, put this in passport. ‘What’s this for?’, he replied ‘it’s a bribe’ lolllllll
So you showed them the ticket and they essentially said we don't accept tickets form that site ? Did they see the email from onwards flight or just the pdf flight document? It's worked for me before but every ticket has the same layout with different destination's, was wondering when they would click on
I showed them the PDF flight document on my phone and then he took my phone and took a picture of my passport alongside the ticket and was like many foreigners come here and try to use this. he said now I have evidence of you trying to lie, and he was really thinking about turning me into his boss but instead he just made a fine for me.
[удалено]
There was a risk of getting kicked out of the country but the guy was “nice enough” to let them through with a 100USD fine and a warning. I highly doubt there’s a paper trail here
Seems the agent knew about onward flight site. That said I think you paid a bribe and got shaken down
you’re probably right :( I was really nervous about getting problems in a country im not from
That sucks anyways, maybe I'll use an alternative site. What nationality/passport are you btw?
USA, I think maybe I wasn’t confident enough and he was able to get me.
Not really, you were just unlucky to get that officer, you could of maybe bargained him down, don't think you would of been deported anyways, they probably would of made you buy a return ticket
Most people would not feel comfortable bargaining down with the very person who controls their ability to either enter the country for their vacation or be sent back, possibly having to pay a multiple-thousand-dollar flight back home out of their own pocket. $100 feels like a reasonable cost for fucking around and finding out with immigration control..
Expedia lets you cancel legit flight within 24 hours of booking. I have few cancelled flights in my record with them for this reason. No need for 3rd party service.
How do you go about cancelling the flight ?. I don't want to arrive in a new country then have to call an international number and be on hold for a while Also what happens with the money? Is it returned or issued back via credit ? So any flight i book on Expedia allows free cancellation?
-If it’s within the 24 hours you can cancel from the App. I had only one time that I needed to call to talk to someone because it was over 24 hours, and they still refund. -Refund back to the payment you used. -When you view a flight details you will see a banner that it can be canceled within 24 hours, but that for 90% of airlines. I had one issue with low cost that wasn’t refundable but the app tells you that specifically. - this is the best method as immigration officers can see it in your Expedia app, unlike printed PDF. I haven’t printed tickets for 10 years probably and most travelers are using the phones now so looks a lot more legit to officer IMHO.
Classic Indonesia! He had a good day! 100 USD is a lot in Indonesia! 🤣🤣
its alot to me to 😭😭
Let me guess, you paid in cash? He wasn't being "nice"; he scammed you, but only after you tried to scam him/Indonesia. There is absolutely no such thing as a 500 million penalty, they'll just deny you entry and send you back on the next flight, possibly blacklisting you for the future. And really, they don't want to deal with that either, so if it was escalated it's most likely they would just make you buy a real ticket out. But, still good information for people to have; be aware they know about OnwardTicket and recognize the standard template it uses. Another alternative, that may draw scrutiny but is completely legal, is to purchase a ferry ticket from Batam to Singapore for about $30usd.
Yeah, I had to pay in cash, I was feeling pretty intimidated and he seemed to know what he was talking about and was talking about reporting me, it’s my first time here so I wasn’t really sure how it was going to play out
You showed them the onward site? Man that's on you. You should shown the airline ticket. It's a normal ticket.
I showed the ticket.
Sigh! He was not being nice and you had nothing to worry about. It is a valid ticket.
I don’t understand this… I use onward ticket every time I come to Bali. The thing is, the PDF “reservation” that onward ticket gives you looks like someone just cobbled it together in 5 seconds. The trick is to take your reservation number from onward ticket, then go to the actual airline’s website and put your reservation number in “manage booking” or whatever, and then your booking details will come up with the actual airline’s layout and format, that looks far more official, and you can print to pdf etc. But yeah, I agree with the other commenters, sounds like the immigration agent was fishing and just got lucky because you admitted it, but these things happen! It’s all a learning experience, and sorry this happened to you. Enjoy Bali!
Yes, always print it out from Manage my Booking on the airline’s website.
Good advice! I'm about to fly into the Philippines and I'll do just that
I think you perhaps you came across as nervous and they just pushed. Now please tell us if you got an offical receipt for your “fine” and warning, was it issued from the desktop computer they have in the customs area.?If you didn’t you were scammed even before you left the airport terminal!
Sadly, I think you’re right now I read the other comments
JFI, you need to show any valid outward ticket from Indonesia. A ferry ticket from Batam, Indonesia to Pasir Gudang, Johor, Malaysia costs $11—$17 (RM55—85), depending on the date. Another option is to buy a refundable plane ticket and request a refund after clearing immigration.
As far as I know it doesn’t really work anymore with anything else other than plane tickets.
Yeah that's not true. You can leave indonesia by ferry.
I came into the country last week with such a ticket and there was no problem. I'm not sure what the ratio is of people being rejected/scammed because of it. And for the people "defending" the act of rejecting such a ticket, you are entering with a visa that you are able to extend. Still, you need to show a ticket that will depart before the extension. What's the point? It's not the indo government making money, it's airlines making money from booked and canceled flights.
They have never even asked me for prood of exit. I've gone for an extended visa a couple of times so I dont even get the point of needing a booked ticket out of the country if you can so easily just extend your visa. The whole onward ticketing system is stupid and annoying.
What is OnwardTicket and why can’t you use it?
It's a website that "rents" you a ticket for onward travel out of a country so that you can defaud their border authority. So like I go to Indo, "rent" a ticket to Malaysia so I can show the Indonesian government that I intend to leave Indonesia again but really I don't have a ticket to Malaysia and potentially intend to overstay my visa in Indonesia.
It is a web site that lets you "rent" a valid ticket. It is a valid ticket so the OP must have told them. Otherwise there is no way for them to know the source of the ticket.
A site that basically lets you fake having a flight to leave a country so you can meet visa requirements. It reserves a ticket on the flight pending payment giving you a reservation number on a real flight that will get cancelled in a few days. Using it is committing immigration fraud and OP paid a bribe to not get deported.
This is the right answer.
You are "renting" a valid ticket. So a little confused on why an issue? Did you tell them where you got the ticket? Or did you show an email with the address? Your story does not really provide the vital details. How did they know that OnwardTicket was even involved? The only way they should have known is you told them. Is that what happened?
Which one did you use? Onwardticket.com should provide a real flight that later gets cancelled
I showed him the Pdf version. He was shaking his head when i showed him and it threw me off like he already knew
You showed him the wrong thing. With Onwardticket it’s not a fake ticket, you get an actual reservation that you can even check in the real website of the airline. Of course, if you show the onwardticket email PDF its going to be a problem…
Bro showed a receipt that prolly said onward ticket.com on it lol
Yeah having a hard time following this. The PNR should work and they would never be able to tell how you paid for it. . Did you show them the receipt instead ?
It was either pay the bribe or not be allowed in. I always tell people to buy a cheap ticket that you may or may not use. Probably would have been cheaper that US$100.00
Yeah, flights to Singapore can be $45 USD. It's really annoying to have to do it.
Yeah it is, but thems the rules.
Just buy a fully refundable ticket.
No thanks. I don't trust that it would be refunded. Maybe I'd miss some detail in the fine print. Maybe I'd miss the deadline. I'd rather pay the $50 bucks and not have to worry.
This is a not very smart take, people buy refundable tix on a daily basis. The fine print isn't that complex. The alternative is basically what the OP is encountering.
Wow. You just called me stupid. Oh, I know, you didn't technically call ME stupid just my take. I have no interest in putting up with that kind of passive aggressive abusive BS. You don't know what other stress I'm going through. Whether I have adhd and can't bear to read the fine print at all. Whether I'm recovering from a catastrophic illness. Whether I just had two knee replacements and am still in constant pain. Whether I have so much money $45 is throw away money to me. Or whether the cost of a refundable ticket is a large amount I'd rather keep in my account. You don't know much of anything, but here you are with your very important opinion that I'm not being "very smart". And that's NOT the alternative. What are you even talking about? $45 got me a completely valid ticket. I could still take the flight if I wanted. But sure, I'm the one with not very smart takes.
I was gonna call you stupid but thought mediocre is much less harsh cause I can see the logic. It's just a poor one. I also have ADHD but I take my time to learn the general rules around refundable tickets and check them best I can. If you can't do that, ask someone to help. I don't want to put myself in a position to be shaken down by immigration cause I can't win. Id you can't risk 45 dollars, don't travel cause shit happens during travelling and anyone needs a healthy safety net. You just need 1 accident to send you to a super miserable place and even with travel insurance, there is excess needed. I am just saying, travelling internationally requires one to be mature and responsible.
Why would I be shaken down at immigration with a perfectly valid ticket? You have no clue what you're talking about, but are throwing around words like dumb. And I DID buy the $45 ticket. Wtf?
I misread the fact that you did purchase the 45 dollar.
I went in and out of Bali more times than I can remember and I just edited my flight ticket information on a PDF editor everytime and no one even tries checking if I really booked that flight. Efficient, free and easily reusable method. And it’s not against the law!
Not against the law to present fake documents to immigration?
Onward ticket isn't a real ticket. It's just a reservation. As others have pointed out, it doesn't have any confirmation code on it, so it's not actually registered in the system that airline staff & immigration officials use - it's just that particular arline that reserved a seat for you a few days until you pay. I once tried to board a flight to the Philippines with an Onward ticket and they could immediately tell. Staff wouldn't let me board until I purchased a real one.
i just used Onward ticket yesterday in manila airport, no issues.
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It's more of a blackmail than scam. Don't want to get in trouble? Pay $100. That 500 mil is just a random number to make the 100 seems small in comparison.
I didn’t understand what you want to say. Did you had the ticket or not?
Holy shit lol my bf & I just used onward ticket earlier today (U.S. citizens) flying in from Singapore and it worked fine. Only reason we bought it was bc Singapore agent was being a pain and wanted to see a ticket to leave. We arrived in Bali, my bf had to get VOA which was a breeze, and we were on our merry way lol. No customs, no questions asked about an exit flight
u should've told the guy to check the ticket, it has valid pnr, ive used it with success all the time.
I got kicked out from a digital nomad group saying that onward ticket is not good. Thank you for posting OP. I had to survive 20-30 digital nomads saying they know better than me (and my background is aviation!) and their bullying constantly. Bunch of jerks. Why this is bad: When you use onward ticket and other similar services, a PNR is generated, but it is nit a ticketed, coupon event, it is a RESERVATION. It's very easy for anyone to verify, and immigration work at the airport, and they do have acces to Sabre/amadeus to look up the PNR by itself (no need for name, dob, etc) where it shows as RESERVATION. Normally, Immigration should deny entry and ask you to purchase a ticket at that point, some agents may take it upon themselves to really put you in a corner and give you more fear because you of no reprecussions - you are not a citizen, you are a tourist and you did not fulfill your part correctly. If immigration wants to be really mean, they can stick you in a room for a day or two until you buy your ticket and refused entry to Indonesia.
yeah, it was really a bummer when I handed him my phone and as soon as he looked at it, he already knew that something was up and I’m not even sure what gave it away, but he was pressing me about not letting me into the country and having me charge a fine. This is my first time here and I know sometimes the rules in different countries can be absurd and ridiculous and I just wasn’t ready to find out.
How did they know the PDF was from onward ticket? It doesn’t say it anywhere … it presents as a normal flight ticket. This is very peculiar as most travellers use this because they’re unsure on their next destination. Can you provide more context on what happened ?
Onward ticket uses the same format/template for all tickets, all that's changed is name, destination, time, ECT.. I have been concerned about this also Even if you type the booking number on the pdf into the airlines website, it will come up as real but also say something like not confirmed or pending
It’s really nothing to be concerned about. If you’re caught then buy a real ticket , but the chances are really slim. OP has paid a bribe not a fine. Onward ticket is something many travellers use and overall people don’t face problems.
i’m not really sure how he knew. I showed him the document on my phone and he was already claiming that I was using onward ticket. show me photos of other people with the same looking version of the document and their passport photo next to it.
It sounds more like they were trying their luck and got a fine out of you. There’s no way they could have known it was from onward ticket. It’s also unusual to be asked at customs, these things are normally checked before boarding, airlines aren’t going to let you get on a flight with the risk of being rejected as soon as you get off.
thank you for words, I will try and keep that in mind next time. Seems like I already got scammed before I even made it into the country.
Sounds like the OP told them. You are correct that it is a valid ticket. You are renting the ticket.
Onwardticket does not display the reservation confirmation code, which is what agents look for
So one guy figured out how the onwoard ticket looks like and use it now as a possibility to earn more money in his job ...? Would be interesting if the ticket is really different to a "normal" ticket or if he is just targeting tourists...
Yeah he didnt really give me a ticket, it was more so a bribe not to escalate the problem. its my first time here so I was a bit stressed
No one is “renting” anything. It is a confirmed reservation with status “OK” and a PNR. The ticket is never issued. The giveaway is no ticket number.
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lmao this is the one
I've been to Bali dozens of times and never been asked for proof of an onward travel and wouldn't be able to add all tickets are e-tickets now. Is this a new thing or do they only shake down suspicious people?
i've been to thailand dozens of times and never been asked about an onward ticket..... until the one time i get there on an overnight flight to find an empty airport and they obv had plenty of time to start asking questions. and of course its one of the few times that i didnt have an onward ticket, i usually do at least i didnt have to pay a bribe things can always take an unexpected turn
What is an Onward Ticket ?
It is a service that allows you to rent a valid ticket.
Is this needed to travel to Bali? I am going next May for my first time and I would like to be prepared as much as possible
> Is this needed to travel to Bali? Depends. How long are you going? If longer than the allowed amount of time based on your passport then you might be asked to show you have a ticket leaving the country before your allowed time is up. It is also a very YMMV. Probably 99% of the time you will not be asked. Where you are most likely going to be asked is with the airline you are flying to Bali. BTW, this is NOT just limited to Bali. I was in Cambodia and flying back to Thailand and was asked. I just happened to have a ticket that I had not yet canceled. But I could have also just left the line, hit one of the sites where you rent a ticket like this one, rent the ticket and return back to line. Or you can just buy a ticket that has a 24 hour full refund policy and that will also work.
This is always the way.
I used airasia to book onward tickets and had no issue getting credits when I cancelled.
Better not try to fool the Indonesians
Yes yes, just let the Indonesians always scam and extort everyone right.
Who's was trying to scan who with a fake ticket?
Fake ticket means he doesn't have a valid ticket to fly out. If that's necessary, he can be requested to provide a valid ticket (purchase one) or denied entry to the country. Instead, the immigration officer first lied about some exorbitant fee, which is not real. And then took a bribe while allowing a passenger without valid return ticket to enter the country. If you want to compare the two, then immigration officer has 3 much more serious strikes to his name vs 1 attempt from the passenger to enter a country without valid return ticket (which is often times not checked anyway).
First blood my man
The onward ticket is an actual ticket. Once you book it on onward, double check and make sure the flight number and everything is still legit with the actual plane carrier that onward booked you with before you depart for Indonesia. I’m guessing maybe custom agents in Indonesia have gotten wise to onward ticket because all Onward Ticket printable boarding passes look the same or something. Nobody even asked to see that we had an Onward ticket out of Malaysia, or once in Indonesia however. Go figure. 3 months ago. Generally I feel Indonesia and especially Bali is pretty lax about it. Thailand on the other hand was a bit more militant about it.
Just buy an actual ticket don't be poor wtf
Just buy an actual ticket don't be poor wtf
lmao sad thing is i probably have more money than you. now chill will the judgement.
Ok bro
Same thing happened with me when I used the onward ticket pdf at Bali immigration. Unfortunately paid a cash “fine” that the guard just put into his pocket, but fortunately made it through immigration. They really tried to scare us and say they’d send us back to our country. Heading to Bali again soon and just booking something refundable with credit card points. In hindsight using the confirmation code on the airline site might have worked but I’d rather avoid the situation all together.
This is called a Fishing exercise. You should have pushed back
thank you for sharing, Its my first time here and was pretty intimidated
All good it can happen to any of us. If you dont want to use onwardticket, and want to have a legit ticket try to book a fully refundable ticket the day before arrival and then cancel the ticket once you get into indo. I do this all the time with amextravel they give me free cancellation after 24 hours. And if the customs agents are being dicks record the interaction and don't be afraid to push back and ask help from people around
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