You're landing in Dhaka on a one-way fare and the desk wants proof you're leaving. Fix it fast. A dummy ticket, also called an onward ticket, is a real PNR booked for visa or border-check purposes without paying for the flight. Below are your options by the clock, from "I have hours" to "they've already said no".

If you have a day or more

Read the official entry page first. The UK government's entry requirements for Bangladesh are in its Bangladesh travel advice. Other nationalities should check their own government's page.

Note what it says about visas and permits. Note whether it mentions proof of onward travel. If it doesn't, don't relax. Airlines check on their own.

Then do three things today:

  1. Choose a real exit date inside your allowed stay.
  2. Get a reservation in your exact passport name.
  3. Verify it on the airline's own booking page.

Action: finish all three before you leave for the airport.

Check these four things on the document

Name: exactly as the passport shows it. Date: after arrival, inside your stay. Route: a flight that exists. Status: confirmed, with a locator. Miss one and the agent may bounce it. Fix it before you queue.

If you have an hour

You can still do this. Move fast and in order.

Open the airline's manage-booking page. Have your locator and surname ready. If you already hold a reservation, confirm it shows your name and flight. That takes two minutes.

If you don't hold one, get one now. Name must match the passport. Date must fall inside your stay. Route must be one an airline flies.

Keep the page open on your phone. Screenshot it. Airport Wi-Fi fails.

Action: get a verifiable reservation, then screenshot it.

If you're already in the check-in queue

Thirty minutes or less. Stay calm. The agent wants a yes. Help them give it.

Have these ready, in this order:

  • Passport.
  • Any visa or authorisation your passport needs.
  • The reservation on your phone, locator visible.

Say one sentence: "Here's my onward ticket, you can check the locator." Short, clear, true.

Agents look up the record in their system. If it's there, you're through. If a hold has lapsed, you have a problem, so check your booking status now, not at the counter. We cover the clock on holds in how airlines treat a held onward ticket by the clock.

Action: show the locator and let them look it up.

If they've already refused you

Don't argue. Ask one question: "What exactly do you need to see?"

Agents often want one of three things. A clearer document. A booking in a different name format. A date that fits the stay. Each has a quick fix.

Ask for a supervisor if the desk can't help. Stay polite. Staff are often bound by an automated prompt, and a supervisor can read it differently.

If time is short, ask whether you can rebook onto a later flight. Missing one flight is a headache. Being denied boarding on a bad document is worse.

Action: ask what they need, fix it, and ask about the next flight.

If it's about the officer, not the airline

Different gate, different question. At immigration the officer decides. A reservation answers the question "how do you leave?" It doesn't promise entry.

Answer plainly. Say where you're staying and roughly when you're leaving. Show the reservation if asked. Don't improvise details you haven't planned.

Our guide to what immigration can and can't tell about a dummy ticket explains what officers can actually see.

Action: keep your story and your paper identical.

Land arrival changes the clock

Coming in overland instead of by air? The airline desk drops out, but the bus or ferry operator may ask for the same proof. Ask them before you pay. The officer at the post can still ask where you go next, so keep the reservation on your phone.

What the document can't do

Be clear on this so you don't lean on it too hard. A reservation isn't a visa. It isn't a guarantee of admission. It doesn't replace any permit your passport needs. Entry decisions belong to the destination's officers.

This is general guidance only. It isn't legal or immigration advice. For your passport, the official pages are the final word.

Timing cheat sheet

Day or more: read the official page, choose a date, book, verify. One hour: confirm or get a reservation, then screenshot it. In the queue: show the locator and speak in one clean sentence. After a refusal: ask what they need, then fix that one thing.

That's the whole plan. Pick your window and work it. When you're ready, get a verifiable reservation now and walk to the desk with it in hand.