Can you go to Peru with a one-way plane ticket?
A few days before my trip to Peru, I read about the requirement to have a return ticket upon flying into Peru. I was concerned because I only had a one-way ticket. I had no idea when I was going to leave Peru, and if I did, I might just go to a neighboring country by bus. So there was no reason to have a return ticket, right?
I did a search on the internet for advice on this, and found varying reports. Most everything I read was a few years old, so it was hard to take stock in them, as things can change quickly here. Most people said that the Peruvian customs doesn’t actually check your future plans, although it is the law. But the airlines DO check it, or at least some of them, because if you get denied entry, the airline is responsible for bringing you back from where you came.
Unsure what to do, and not wanting to be in the predicament of having all my travel plans ruined, I decided to invest in an ongoing ticket. An ongoing ticket just proves that you intend to leave the country. For their purposes, this is as good as a return ticket. The agent at Spirit Airlines indeed asked for it. I should have asked him what would have happened if I didn’t show this proof of ongoing travel, but at the time, I didn’t know I would be writing a blog post about this.
When I finally arrived at the airport in Peru, nobody asked me about it. The customs area is usually full of travelers and they seem to be interested in getting everyone through as quickly as possible.
My advice is to contact the airline and see if they are going to prevent you from flying with only the one-way ticket. If you do not intend to return, or if you are unsure of the date, then the options would be to try to find a refundable ticket, or select your next destination. Flights from Lima to other cities in South America are pretty cheap, and if you have to cancel, at least the loss isn’t too bad.
