Do you need an onward ticket?
Now this question gets asked a LOT. Do you really need an onward ticket when flying into Mexico? Well, the answer is NO… and YES. A little confusing? It all depends on which airline you fly with. Let me explain.
So the real answer is NO, you don’t need an onward ticket. The immigration entering Mexico is quite relaxed. I’ve never had a problem entering and getting my 180-day tourist visa on arrival. I’ve been doing it for 4 years. I just say I’m travelling around and going to be heading to Guatemala in a few months. I’ve got money to travel and have no plans to work. It’s all pretty easy.
The YES part of the onward ticket debacle was when they didn’t let me check-in in Australia because I didn’t have an onward ticket to leave Mexico. Even though I explained to them that I’d been to Mexico 5 times in the last couple of years and it’s all fine. Because of some airlines’ strict regulations, a last-minute rush to find the cheapest flight I could out of Mexico for about $100 that I was never going to use, and show them my ticket. This airline was Virgin Australia.
Since then, 1 time I booked a $20 bus from Tijuana to San Diego and that was enough.
So to wrap it up, you should ring your airline before your departure date or before you buy your ticket. Because it’s the airlines’ rules and regulations that will determine if you need an onward ticket or not. Not the Mexican immigration.
I hope this has helped you out. Any questions, leave me a comment and I’ll happily answer them.
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Tagged Tips
10 Responses
I am a portuguese citizen and I was denied boarding today with the airline AEROMEXICO for not having a ticket to leave mexico.
My flight was from LIMA(peru) to MEXICO CITY. They did not refund my money or help me in any way, same for the website where i purchased the ticket MYTRIP. I just lost my money and had to to return to a hotel in LIMA and have to organize everything again from scratch.
I also asked the staff of the other airline flying to mexico VOLARIS, they also told me they do not allow you to board if you dont have a ticket leaving from mexico. It seems more and more airlines are doing this, wich seems to be ilegitimate because the requirements to enter mexico can only be enforced by mexican authorities at their border, and not by airlines. Airlines do not have authority to deny you boarding, let alone to keep your money and claim you did not comply with the requirements.Reply
A group of eight Belizeans including myself was flying from Back to Mexico from Bogota. We had all originally entered Mexico from Belize through the land boarder in our cars. We parked our cars at the Cancun Airport and then flew out from Cancun to Colombia. On our return Journey the Airlines denied us to get on the flight. They wanted us to present proof by means of a ticket that we would not stay in Mexico. They forced us to by nine tickets from Cancun to Belize. Tickets we never used since our vehicles were parked in Cancun. What can we do about this? Sue the airlines. We spent over 3000 dollars in these tickets
Hi Roque,
Sorry this happened to you. I’m planning on going to Medellin via Tijuana and I was wondering if I need a return flight which was your case. Do you know what airline it was?
Reply
Hi, how much did your tickets cost to flight to Medellin if you don’t mind me asking, and what airline did you used?
Sincerely,
Carlos
Reply
My sister wants to travel from Uruguay to Mexico, but she is confused because someone told her she need to buy a return ticket before she can travel to Mexico, is this true
Reply
Update. I just flew into Mexico City from the US (I’m a US Citizen). I had a one-way ticket. Immigration asked for my return ticket, which I don’t have. They said since I don’t have a return ticket, I can only stay for 7 days.
Reply
Hey, so In a few days I’m flying to Bangkok and with no outbound flight I do have a outbound flight from Singapore though would this count or not? What do you think? Plus the out bound flight is after the 30 day visa
Reply
We use https://www.onwardticketvisa.com .
Simple,fast and efficient. Response time is awesome.
Highly recommended.
It was very easy to communicate with them because they have a live chat available. They are very cheap price also .Reply
Do a one-way ticket ok to go from Lisbon to Mexico with air Europa holding a British passport ?
Reply
I recommend on this site to get onward/proof of onward travel to mexico
https://dummyticket.flights/Reply
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