Yangon International Airport (RGN) is where most air arrivals in Myanmar begin, and the desk back at your departure airport is where most problems start. 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, you'll find what to do depending on how much time you've got. Pick your window and start.

First, read the official advice

Before any booking, read the UK government's Myanmar (Burma) entry requirements and travel advice. It carries serious warnings about conditions in parts of the country. If you hold another passport, use your own government's equivalent page. Rules change, and so does the situation on the ground. This page is general information, not legal or immigration advice.

Action: decide whether the trip is sensible at all, then read on.

If you have a week or more

You have room. Use it.

Confirm your entry route first. Myanmar has used an electronic visa system for many travellers, but whether it applies to you depends on your passport. Check the current rules through your own government and the official Myanmar channels.

Then call or message your airline. Ask one question: will you be asked for proof of onward travel on this route? Airlines check entry conditions in an industry database called Timatic, which IATA describes on its Timatic page. The airline can tell you what its desk expects.

Action: get the airline's answer in writing, by email or chat.

If you have a few days

Use them to remove surprises. Check the departure airport's rules on documents. Check whether your connection passes through a third country with its own entry conditions, because a transit stop can add a requirement you hadn't planned for. Then book, and verify.

Don't leave it to the last evening. Systems are slow, customer service is slower, and you'll want a spare attempt.

Action: list every airport on your route and check each one's conditions.

If you have a day

Now it's about speed and accuracy.

Book a reservation with a departure from Myanmar inside your permitted stay. Check four things. The name matches your passport exactly. The route leaves the country. The date sits inside your stay. The airline's own website can find the booking.

Our guide to what an agent checks, by time left walks through the same four checks. Keep it handy.

Action: open the airline's manage-booking page and confirm the record shows up.

If you have an hour

Sixty minutes is enough if you don't dither.

Spend the first 15 minutes on the booking itself. Spend the next 15 minutes on checks: name, route, date, status. Spend 10 minutes saving copies. That leaves time to look at your hotel booking and make sure its dates agree with your exit date. An exit date that sits after your permitted stay is the classic error, and it takes one minute to catch.

If something doesn't match, change the reservation now. It's much easier from your sofa than from the queue.

Action: write your exit date on a note and compare it to every other date you hold.

If you're heading to the airport now

Short on time? Do three things on the way.

First, save the confirmation as a PDF, offline. Airport wifi fails. Second, screenshot the airline page showing the booking. Third, have your hotel details ready, with dates that match your exit date.

Land borders are a trap here. Plans to cross by road feel flexible, but nothing about them can be checked on a screen. Crossings open to foreigners are limited and have changed over the years, so a plan to leave overland may not hold. A plane reservation is the thing a check-in agent can verify. Our piece on leaving Laos by land or air shows the same logic in another land-border country.

Action: put the PDF where you can reach it in five seconds.

If you're at the desk and they ask

Stay calm. Hand over the passport, then the reservation. Say your real plans in plain words: how long you're staying, where you're sleeping. No story. No guessing.

If the agent can't find the record, show it on the airline's own site. If the status differs from your email, trust the site. Ask what they'd accept instead. A polite question often unlocks a quick fix.

Action: ask, "What do you need to see?" and answer it.

If they've already refused you

Breathe. It isn't over.

Ask for the reason, in writing if possible. Contact the airline's helpline while you're still at the desk. Check whether the reservation lapsed. Records have a lifetime, because airlines set their own time limits on unpaid reservations, so a stale booking is a common cause. If so, a fresh one may solve it. If the problem is your entry authorisation, no ticket will fix that, and you'll need to contact your government's consular service.

Action: get the reason first, then choose the fix.

Want a clean record ready before your next trip? Reserve your onward ticket and check it against the windows above.