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I found a thread on NomadForum.io discussing OnwardFlights.com and FlyOnward.com, both services seem legit as many people on that thread have used them.

EDIT: FlyOnward.com now stopped working - see answers for more info

Each company provides the same service in appearance, but there seem some confusion.

User "lonelyblogger" wrote:

flyonward.com I booked a test ticket from Thailand to Vietnam and they sent me a Vietnam Airlines ticket from Bangkok to Ho Chi Ming city, the code was valid when I checked with VNA's website. I love it

Then user "andrewkent" wrote:

I just used onwardflights.com [...] I provided them with the confirmation number and date of the flight, the agent punched it into her computer, and she handed me my boarding pass without asking any other questions.

Finally, user "lonelyblogger" wrote:

I used both. Onwardflights.com photoshops tickets, Flyonward.com books real tickets. Onwardflights is cheaper for a reason.

I'm not sure if that last quote makes sense though as user "andrewkent" wrote before that he used this service and "the agent punched it into her computer". You would think that at that point the agent would find out if the ticket was fake? Or maybe she was not checking the data, just adding it as reference in her airline's database. Confusing.

The question that really matters: do both company provide a flight confirmation that can then be checked later on (i.e. by immigration or airport staff, when leaving or entering a country)?

If you know more: is there any difference in the service provided? Any details on these services/companies would be appreciated.

Adriano
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    It seems you found a straighforward explanation yourself, is there any reason not to believe it? It's not about the “quality of service”, one of them produces falsified tickets, the other real tickets you won't use, a different kind of fraud. It's up to you to decide which one you want to commit. I would not use either if you are going to a country where officials could be expected to verify your info and care about it (as opposed to countries with “pretend regulations” that just want to see some official-looking document). – Relaxed Nov 26 '15 at 07:55
  • I clarified the question as I was confused by the contridiction between what andrewkent and lonelyblogger wrote – Adriano Nov 26 '15 at 08:01
  • "I would not use either if you are going to a country where officials could be expected to verify your info": maybe you're right for now, but who knows, maybe we will all be using this all the time in a few years time regardless of the country we travel to. These are new services so we still see them as rather "experimental" but my guts tell me it's well worth looking into it rather sooner than later. – Adriano Nov 26 '15 at 08:04
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    Is advice on defrauding immigration officials within travel.se's purview? – Urbana Nov 26 '15 at 08:14
  • @davidvc oh come on. That's just a strategy, nothing illegal if the ticket is verifiable. If it's Photoshoped then I definitely would NOT do it. – Adriano Nov 26 '15 at 08:16
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    I wasn't commenting on the morality (indeed, from a purely pragmatic point of view, if you can demonstrate the resources and intent to leave, it seems silly to require a confirmed onward ticket). As @Relaxed says, though, either way you're deceiving the officer: by showing a "ticket" which doesn't exist, or a ticket which you cannot ever use (because the website will cancel it shortly after your entry). And I wasn't sure if questions asking for advice like that were in the scope of the website. – Urbana Nov 26 '15 at 08:25
  • @AdrienBe OK, I understand your question now, sorry for the confusion (+1). Basically, you want to know whether it's true that onwardflights really photoshops tickets. – Relaxed Nov 26 '15 at 08:29
  • @davidvc I see, we enter a grey area here I suppose. I'm being pragmatic here: it's about traveling & travel.se has a great community so why not leverage that? I'm confident we'll get some great answer ;) – Adriano Nov 26 '15 at 08:32
  • @Relaxed in a nutshell: yes :) But I clarified the question to "do both company provide a flight confirmation that can then be checked later on (i.e. by immigration or airport staff, when leaving or entering a country)?" because I think this is what really matters. – Adriano Nov 26 '15 at 08:33
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    I used flyonward.com three times in the last 7 weeks. In all three cases I got real confirmed flight reservations which I could verify on the airlines' websites. Only in one case an immigration officer actually wanted to see a ticket on arrival. Showing him the PDF on a phone was enough. I have not used onwardflights, so I can't answer your question – Peter Hahndorf Nov 26 '15 at 10:48
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    @AdrienBe In many countries it would be illegal to mislead the immigration inspector as to your intentions, whether or not the PNR exists. The other point is that, my suspicion is that, despite claims to the contrary, this website is generating a PNR, not a ticketed reservation (hence the auto cancellation after 48 hours), which may fall foul of a very strict interpretation of the rules. Also, why any airline allows a travel agent to abuse its reservation system like this is a bit of a surprise as well. Qatar's revenue management team would blow its lid if this was happening on their system. – Calchas Nov 26 '15 at 13:36
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    @Calchas what is a PNR? – Adriano Nov 26 '15 at 13:53
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    @AdrienBe A PNR (passenger name record) is a database record on the airline's computer that holds the information about you and your flights. But crucially it is a separate system to ticketing, which are financial documents. It is possible to create a "confirmed" reservation on a flight for a particular person, get the 4 to 6 digit alphanumeric code (the PNR reference) and see the flight on the website without actually having paid for it or actually having a ticket. The computer will usually delete the PNR if a ticket is not attached to it within a few days. – Calchas Nov 26 '15 at 14:21
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    @AdrienBe My guess (and I could be wrong) is that this is how FlyOnward.com operates. – Calchas Nov 26 '15 at 14:23
  • I was thinking about getting one to leave Costa Rica, did it work? Are they actually checking when you arrive at the destination's customs as well as when you check in (depart)? – GwenM Feb 25 '16 at 13:38
  • For my current trip I needed two flights to show the Chinese Visa Office and one onward flight from Taiwan, which I was asked to show at the Scoot check-in desk in Singapore on my layover. All tickets were booked by my coworker who also word at Flight Centre. He told me they do this all the time. He also mentioned that he would get in trouble from his boss for any such flights that he forgot to cancel at the end of the day. Hey may have used an industry jargon term other than "cancel". My impression is that these websites do what my colleague does all the time, for a fee, as a business model. – hippietrail Aug 10 '16 at 03:31
  • I guess that using these services is doing others a disservice by polluting flight occupancy information, and even more promoting overbooking by the airlines. –  Jan 01 '17 at 16:00
  • @JanDoggen You may be right, or not. But either way, what are our options? Really book a flight which we don't take? That's the same result except that we would lose much more money. Of course, if I can use something easier as a proof of onward travel (bus, train or boat going outside of country), then I'm happy to do it. – Adriano Jan 02 '17 at 10:47
  • @AdrienBe That would be worth a separate question (IMO to be answered first before resorting to schemes like this) –  Jan 02 '17 at 10:50
  • @JanDoggen I agree, I would recommend to use this as a last resort (ie. other proofs of onward travel are too expensive). However, that's only my opinion. And expressing our opinion regarding whether or not one should or shouldn't use these services is off topic for this question. You can always create another question if you want to discuss this... although I think that opinionated questions will be closed by moderators – Adriano Jan 02 '17 at 10:58
  • I used flyonward.com in Nov 2017. I never received my plane ticket. – Adriano Mar 05 '18 at 11:11
  • I used onwardflights.com in Nov 2017. It worked just fine, I received my plane ticket some hours after ordering. – Adriano Mar 05 '18 at 11:12

2 Answers2

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Appears flyonward.com no longer deliver the tickets.

flyonwards.com buys fully refundable tickets in your name and automatically cancels the ticket 24 or 48 hours afterwards, depending on your selection. You receive the receipt and ticket from the airline.

In regards to the legality of it, it's exactly the same as buying a fully refundable ticket from a travel agent (here flyonwards) and cancelling it later on.

hippietrail
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Sylverdrag
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flyonward.com is now dead and redirects to an insecure squatted site.

But I discovered a new competitor at onwardfly.com that charges $9.99 for what seems to be the same service that onwardflights.com provides for $7.00.

hippietrail
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