Job Discussion Forums

Sarah Joyce · Joined: 04 Nov 2004 Posts: 3

I have been researching everywhere to find out if Chilean authorities require a return or onward ticket in order to let you in. Is a bus ticket suitable? Does it have to be a flight? Or is it only the airlines that want travellers to have onward or return tickets??
Any help or info would be awesome - thanks!

Dennis Parish · Joined: 09 Nov 2004 Posts: 18 Location: santiago de chile

Chile has no problem with you entering without a ticket out, either at the airport or the border. The problem is usually in the US, UK, Australia or wherever where they insist it isn't allowed. I have had this problema and so have others. INSIST that whoever says you can't check in CALL someone, even if it p____ them off to do it.

eileen · Joined: 15 May 2004 Posts: 71

I called the Chilean consulate in DC before leaving the US and they said that technically there was a requirement, but that it was not enforced uniformly. The woman I spoke to could not tell me if a bus ticket would suffice. I know one person who was forced to buy an onward ticket to Argentina via air, but they were in the airport when this happened. And she was coming from New Zealand, for whatever that�s worth.

I know at least four people who have come on one-way tickets and have had no problem. Or have bought r-t tickets originating in Santiago and ending in Santiago with no onward ticket. Including one who came with a cat. So I guess it�s a crapshoot, but you�re likely to come out a winner.

matttheboy · Joined: 01 Jul 2003 Posts: 854 Location: Valparaiso, Chile

I posted my problems with check in staff a few weeks ago under 'return ticket border issues'. It's pure luck whether you get someone whose partner has just cheated on him/her or someone who happens to be in a good mood. Hope you get the latter.

Dennis Parish · Joined: 09 Nov 2004 Posts: 18 Location: santiago de chile

Maybe it was me who you met who entered without a ticket out and a cat; that happened to me in 2001 and I doubt there could have two people crazy enough to do it! The bus companies definitely don�t care and no one says anything from the Chilean side; it�s the gringo airlines that get all worked up about it, I think.

eileen · Joined: 15 May 2004 Posts: 71

don�t think it was you, because it was my cat that came! You didn�t bring me my cat, did you? So apparently there were at least two people crazy enough to do it.

sarasoucie · Joined: 25 Nov 2004 Posts: 8 Location: toronto

Hello there

I�m just about to buy a ticket and I�m wondering what to do. Have any Canadians out there had any experience flying from Toronto to Santiago on a one-way ticket?

I can�t believe it. I�m actually married to a Chilean, but can�t register my marriage through the Chilean consulate in Canada in order to get a resident visa�and all because of the Catholic Church! Because my husband has been divorced, we have to register the marriage directly at the Supreme Court in Santiago �..so no special treatment for me.

Aaahhhhg!

Any advice from any Canadians who have flown -or tried to fly- on a one-way ticket would be greatly appreciated.

Beccaboo · Joined: 30 Jan 2009 Posts: 2 Location: Chicago

Hey I am also flying out to Chile in two weeks on a one-way ticket. I am so scared that someone is going to stop me at check in.

If this happens, what is the best thing to say/do? Should I tell them to check the TIMATIC regulations? The last thing I want to do is buy a return or onward ticket since I don't know when I'll be coming home, and I don't want to spend unnecessary money!

Any advice for how to best fight this at check-in let me know!!
thanks Smile

ghostdog · Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 3:15 pm Post subject:

It may or may not possible that the airline will let you sign a waiver which states that you will bear the costs of return transportation if Chilean immigration decides not to let you in (which won't happen -- the problem is never the local government but the individual airlines, who don't want to be stuck with the cost of shipping you out if you are rejected.)

If some nimrod refuses to let you board on your one-way ticket, then go to a travel agency at the airport and buy the cheapest refundable one-way ticket you can get. Locations in Argentina or Peru are probably your best bet. I suggest a travel agency because they are likely to have access to lower-cost airlines doing regional travel than the airline you're flying with, but they may also charge you a fee for a refund, so you may want to ask. Also make sure you have a trustworthy way of contacting the agency once you are in Chile, since it's likely that the agency will be handling the refund, not the airline. Expect that it will cost you something, but far less than eating half of a return ticket. Good luck.

Dia · Joined: 09 Apr 2008 Posts: 92

seconding the above poster. the problem is with the airlines. its unlikely you will have this be a problem but if it is it might be expenseive and complicated.

you could buy an "onward ticket" then and there at the airport if forced, which is likely to be less expensive than a return ticket.

also check out the thread about this
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?p=674735&highlight=#674735
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Lunkey · Joined: 20 Jan 2008 Posts: 66 Location: Santiago

i just spoke with someone at american airlines and was told that based on the most updated information they have received from the Chilean consulate (which as people have previously stated seems to update quite often) if you can prove you have the funds to buy a ticket and exit the country - just a credit card - then entering the country on a one way ticket is not a problem.

I am still skeptical about all this though, and was thinking to just go ahead and book now my first trip to Buenos Aires a couple months after arriving in Santiago, but Dia as you wrote in the other thread you posted, I might have the same problem when I reenter if I don't have my work visa yet? Confused

how does that work then with people who do a visa bus run to Mendoza, and then reenter Santiago on a "one way ticket"?

Dia · Joined: 09 Apr 2008 Posts: 92

I'm not sure if its that they're not required to check, or that, like most other points along the line they just don't uphold the rule and actually do the check, but I've never heard of anybody having trouble by land.

I didn't actually leave the country on my BA ticket, I just let it go to waste, so I can't speak for that either. A lot of the whole process is just up for grabs on the mood and situation when its your turn to pass through the line. If your airline says you can show a credit card, that'd be awesome and avoid a lot of problems.

I spoke to Delta and Air Canada and they didn't OK that option for me on the phone and I just didn't want to take any chances.
Like stated before, its pretty rare that people have encountered problems at all, but when they have, its been kinda hard or expensive to fix at such last minute. Everybody has to kind of take a gamble on how they want to try it.

ottawajoe