Your consulate appointment is in an hour and you still haven't booked a flight. Here's the short version: most embassies don't want a paid ticket, they want a plausible, real one. A dummy ticket, also called an onward ticket, is a real PNR booked for visa or border-check purposes without paying for the flight, and that's exactly what a visa file usually needs. Move fast, but move on the right document.

If your appointment is within the hour: book the PNR first, print second

Don't waste the next 20 minutes hunting for advice. Open a booking site, pick a real flight in the general window your trip covers, and hold the confirmation. Most search-and-hold tools give you a genuine record locator without payment, and that's what goes in the file (what a dummy ticket actually is covers the mechanics if you want the full picture later). Print it or save it as a PDF. A screenshot of a search results page isn't the same thing, and a consulate officer who's seen a thousand files can usually tell the difference.

If the consulate's checklist just says "flight itinerary": don't overthink it

South Korea's short-term visa applications and New Zealand's visitor visa file both use language like this, and it trips people up. "Itinerary" doesn't mean a ticketed, non-refundable purchase. It means a document showing where you're going and when you plan to leave. A real onward or return PNR satisfies that on its own.

If they specifically ask for proof you paid for the ticket: pause and check the actual rule

This is rarer than people assume, and it's worth confirming before you spend money you might not need to. Some South African visa categories lean toward wanting a firmer booking for certain applicant profiles, so if a checklist genuinely says "paid" rather than "confirmed," treat that instruction as the one to follow, not general advice from a forum.

If your visa gets approved but the travel dates on file don't match your real plan

Fix this before you fly, not at the airport. A visa sticker or approval letter tied to dates that no longer match your actual itinerary is the kind of mismatch an airline check-in agent or a border officer will ask about. Rebook the onward leg to match reality, keep the new confirmation with your passport, and don't rely on the old file version.

If you're applying by post or through an agency and can't manage the booking yourself

Ask exactly what the agency needs from you rather than guessing. Most visa agencies simply need the PNR reference and passenger name to include in the file; they aren't the ones deciding whether it's accepted. That decision sits with the consulate reviewing the documents, not the courier handling your passport. Send the agency the reference number the moment you have it, since a slow handoff can push your file past a submission deadline you didn't even know existed.

If your file gets rejected specifically over the ticket

Ask what was actually wrong before resubmitting anything. Sometimes it's a name mismatch against the passport, sometimes it's a date that fell outside the requested travel window, and sometimes the PNR had already expired by the time someone reviewed the file (worth running through the PNR timing checklist if you're not sure which). Fix the specific problem, don't just buy a more expensive ticket and hope that solves it.

What consulates are actually verifying

Check What it confirms What fails it
Record locator lookup The PNR exists and is active Fabricated or expired reference
Name match Passenger matches the applicant Typo or nickname mismatch
Date window Trip fits the requested visa period Dates outside the stated purpose

Frequently asked questions

Do all consulates check the ticket the same way?

No. Some review it as one document among many, others cross-check it more closely against the rest of the file. IATA's Timatic system governs what airlines check at boarding, which is a separate process from what a consulate reviews at the visa stage.

Is a refundable paid ticket safer than an unpaid onward booking?

It removes one possible question, but it costs more and ties up money for weeks. For most visa categories, a genuine held PNR does the same job, and you can always upgrade to a paid ticket later once the visa is actually approved.

What if the embassy's own guidance page doesn't mention a ticket at all?

Follow it as written. Gov.uk's general visa guidance is a reasonable model for how these checklists are usually worded, and adding documents nobody asked for rarely helps.

Sort the booking before the appointment, not during it. Book a verifiable onward ticket and get back to the rest of your file.