Can I use one-way flights for US-Canada-US travel?
October 29, 2023 8:33 AM Subscribe
I want to book a flight from the US to Canada on Air Canada, and the return trip on United, for cost reasons. I plan to buy the return ticket before travel, so I will have the return ticket available to show to Customs upon entering Canada. Is this generally accepted by Canadian Customs?
Flights in and out of Canada are through Toronto YYZ. I'm a US citizen.
I tried to search previous AskMe's but the tool wasn't working for me. Thanks for your help.
You don't need a return ticket at all to get into Canada and it is vanishingly unlikely that Canadian immigration would ask you about the specific details of your return plans and even if they did, planning to purchase a ticket in the future would be a totally acceptable answer. Having a return ticket on a different airline would not matter at all. This is not a thing to worry about, even a tiny bit.
If OP is a white U.S. citizens this may ot may not be true, I don't know. But I can assume you that for people not matching that.description they definitely care about your plan to leave and seeing your evidence of that plan. That said if you have a return flight I would think that's evidence that you plan to leave.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 8:44 AM on October 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
If OP is a white U.S. citizens this may ot may not be true, I don't know. But I can assume you that for people not matching that.description they definitely care about your plan to leave and seeing your evidence of that plan. That said if you have a return flight I would think that's evidence that you plan to leave.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 8:44 AM on October 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
FWIW, United and Air Canada codeshare, so check out purchasing a round trip (or open jaw) through either airline that includes the flights you want.
posted by carmicha at 8:51 AM on October 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by carmicha at 8:51 AM on October 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
Best answer: I am a US citizen who has entered Canada dozens of times, and never once have I been asked for any details of my return trip beyond "how long are you staying". In the unlikely event that you are asked, I think having a printed page showing your purchased return flight would be more than enough to satisfy the border control agent.
posted by mekily at 9:00 AM on October 29, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by mekily at 9:00 AM on October 29, 2023 [3 favorites]
another datapoint to echo mekily: I went from the US to Canada via YVR this month, on two different non-codeshare carriers (United and American). As per usual I used the ArriveCAN app to do customs declarations beforehand. The app doesn't ask outside of how many days you're going to be there and no one talks to you if you use the kiosk, other than the minor pleasantries when you hand people your receipt from the kiosk. (I present as white male.)
FWIW, ArriveCAN doesn't ask you about your incoming or return flight info. (I just half-did one to make sure.)
posted by mrg at 10:46 AM on October 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
FWIW, ArriveCAN doesn't ask you about your incoming or return flight info. (I just half-did one to make sure.)
posted by mrg at 10:46 AM on October 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
If OP is a white U.S. citizens this may ot may not be true, I don't know. But I can assume you that for people not matching that.description they definitely care about your plan to leave and seeing your evidence of that plan.
Having worked and travelled across the world, I can tell you that Canadian customs and border control is the most difficult I have ever interacted with, and I'm a white male American.
That said, I agree with others that having your return ticket before you fly will resolve many potential challenges.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 10:50 AM on October 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
Having worked and travelled across the world, I can tell you that Canadian customs and border control is the most difficult I have ever interacted with, and I'm a white male American.
That said, I agree with others that having your return ticket before you fly will resolve many potential challenges.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 10:50 AM on October 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
plan to buy the return ticket before travel, so I will have the return ticket available to show to Customs upon entering Canada. Is this generally accepted by Canadian Customs?
I've certainly traveled on one-way tickets before but it has escalated me to a secondary customs agent at least once. If this happens, and it may not, it really shouldn't be at all a problem though if there's a reasonable answer to their questions, e.g. you are employed, show signs of stably living where you live, have evidence of a return ticket, etc. It's not too uncommon these days with budget ticket aggregators to end up with tickets that appear one-way in their system.
For those saying "this hasn't happened to me" -- one thing to know is that airlines provide this information to border control, and that may be why. I travel between the US and Canada a lot for family reasons as a (privileged) US citizen, and a non-trivial percentage of the time, let's say 10% as a very rough estimate, conversations about travel plans do go beyond "how long are you staying"; you may just effectively not experience if you travel less than I do. But as I said, this should be completely fine if you have normal answers to some really straightforward questions.
posted by advil at 10:51 AM on October 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
I've certainly traveled on one-way tickets before but it has escalated me to a secondary customs agent at least once. If this happens, and it may not, it really shouldn't be at all a problem though if there's a reasonable answer to their questions, e.g. you are employed, show signs of stably living where you live, have evidence of a return ticket, etc. It's not too uncommon these days with budget ticket aggregators to end up with tickets that appear one-way in their system.
For those saying "this hasn't happened to me" -- one thing to know is that airlines provide this information to border control, and that may be why. I travel between the US and Canada a lot for family reasons as a (privileged) US citizen, and a non-trivial percentage of the time, let's say 10% as a very rough estimate, conversations about travel plans do go beyond "how long are you staying"; you may just effectively not experience if you travel less than I do. But as I said, this should be completely fine if you have normal answers to some really straightforward questions.
posted by advil at 10:51 AM on October 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
I have (a white US/UK citizen) entered Canada without issue in two mildly unusual scenarios, though not the one you describe: my mom gave me a lift from Vermont to Montreal and was returning the next day, while I was returning by Greyhound some weeks later and I was supposed to fly MSP-ORD-LHR but ended up being rebooked MSP-YYZ-LHR and then missed the connection in Toronto (so I went through main immigration, not transit immigration). On the first occasion, there was a good deal of confusion about what I would be doing in Canada (math conference), but not about us living in different states or me returning separately (I didn't have to show the Greyhound ticket). On the second occasion, I got asked "what are you doing in Canada for 0 days" in a somewhat suspect tone of voice (I wrote 0 on the landing card), explained I'd missed my connection and that was that. (Granted, I was decidedly worried they were going to ask if I had any Canadian cash on me, which I didn't, seeing as I hadn't left the house expecting to go to Canada.)
My understanding/experience is that Canada has more thorough immigration officials than many countries (the trip for the math conference was the longest it's taken me to get into any country), but that they're reasonable. Odds are, you'll have a harder time getting back into the US.
posted by hoyland at 11:20 AM on October 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
My understanding/experience is that Canada has more thorough immigration officials than many countries (the trip for the math conference was the longest it's taken me to get into any country), but that they're reasonable. Odds are, you'll have a harder time getting back into the US.
FWIW, United and Air Canada codeshare, so check out purchasing a round trip (or open jaw) through either airline that includes the flights you want.I'm genuinely not sure if this is a thing with tickets purchased on two different airlines, but might be worth a phone call given the codeshare -- see if they'll link the two reservations so there's a chance the return will be reported to immigration with the manifest. (The magic term you want is PNR.)
posted by hoyland at 11:20 AM on October 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
genuinely not sure if this is a thing with tickets purchased on two different airlines
Under the code sharing notion, the ticket would be purchased from either United or Air Canada. If, say, you purchased from United, some of the choices would say something like “operated by Air Canada.” I just tested this on the United web site.
posted by carmicha at 6:49 PM on October 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
Under the code sharing notion, the ticket would be purchased from either United or Air Canada. If, say, you purchased from United, some of the choices would say something like “operated by Air Canada.” I just tested this on the United web site.
posted by carmicha at 6:49 PM on October 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
This goes back to 2018, so things might have changed, but briefly: My in-laws were visiting my wife and me in France. They live in Michigan. They got a great deal on round-trip tickets from Toronto to Paris, so they drove to Toronto, spent the night with friends, and flew to France.
When they were set to return, the airline issued a boarding pass for my FIL, who is a US citizen, but said that they could not issue one for my MIL, who is a NZ citizen and US permanent resident. They were told that as a New Zealander, even with a US green card, she needed a visa to fly into Canada unless she had another ticket to a destination outside Canada.
Unless the laws have changed, you should be good. But it would be worth checking with the airline.
(Rather than wait for a visa, my in-laws decided to change their return flight to Detroit, then take a ground shuttle from DTW to YYZ so they could retrieve their car from long-term parking and drive back home.)
posted by brianogilvie at 10:45 AM on October 30, 2023
When they were set to return, the airline issued a boarding pass for my FIL, who is a US citizen, but said that they could not issue one for my MIL, who is a NZ citizen and US permanent resident. They were told that as a New Zealander, even with a US green card, she needed a visa to fly into Canada unless she had another ticket to a destination outside Canada.
Unless the laws have changed, you should be good. But it would be worth checking with the airline.
(Rather than wait for a visa, my in-laws decided to change their return flight to Detroit, then take a ground shuttle from DTW to YYZ so they could retrieve their car from long-term parking and drive back home.)
posted by brianogilvie at 10:45 AM on October 30, 2023
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posted by ssg at 8:39 AM on October 29, 2023 [7 favorites]