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The question of how to book tickets for a visa without redemption becomes especially relevant when receiving a document for multiple entry or in the case of floating travel dates.

Usually, there are two reasons for booking air tickets without payment:

  • You don’t have a bank card at hand or you don’t have enough funds, but you want to secure a ticket at a low price.
  • Air tickets are needed to apply for a visa, but there is no absolute certainty that the consulate will approve the application.

In these cases, there are two ways to book tickets without paying.

1. Booking on the airline website

Many airlines are sympathetic to the need for deferred payment when booking. For example, the largest European carrier Lufthansa provides two days to pay for your reservation. United Americans are ready to hold your reservation for a whole week, and Korean Air for up to ten days! It is important to remember that the company can unilaterally reduce the time required to pay for the reservation. They will immediately notify you of this by email or phone, so provide real information when booking. Be sure to study all the terms of deferred payment. Some airlines reserve the right to charge small fines if you fail to pay for your reservation on time.

2. Booking on the website of ticket agencies

This option is the most common, since the agency can provide a deferred payment service for tickets for those airlines that do not themselves have such an opportunity. The agent.ru service is popular among experienced travelers, where you can book tickets without payment for a period of 12 to 72 hours. The time directly depends on the departure date. When booking tickets for the coming days, you should not hope that you will be given more than a day to pay. But when searching several months before departure, you can easily find booking options for several days.

If you need a paper copy to apply for a visa, booking verification services will help:

  • checkmytrip.com
  • viewtrip.com
  • virtuallythere.com
  • myairlines.ru

After making a reservation, enter your 6-digit PNR code on one of the services (should be sent to your email after booking) and the passenger’s last name in Latin. Afterwards you will see your reservation with the status “confirmed” and you will be able to print the document.

How to book a ticket without paying? Step-by-step instruction.

  1. We go to the website Agent.ru
  2. We choose “from” – “to”. We uncheck the “and back” box if we only need a one-way ticket. Select the departure date. Enter the number of passengers and click “Find flights”.
  3. A window will open in which you will need to select a flight. You can book tickets without payment, so that the reservation lasts up to 10 days, with two airlines - Emirates and Qatar. The easiest way is to print the booking confirmation for Qatar flights, so scroll down the list until you see the Qatar ticket. We do not look at prices and flight duration, since we will not pay for or redeem this ticket anyway.
  4. If you need a ticket to one of the European countries, then below is a list of airlines and the period during which the companies hold unpaid reservation:
  • Aeroflot – 7 days
  • AirBaltic – 3 days
  • AirBerlin – 4 days
  • Air Europa – 7 days
  • AirFrance – 4 days
  • Alitalia – 11 o'clock
  • Austrian Airlines – 24 hours
  • EuropeAir – 7 days
  • Iberia – 1 day
  • KLM – 3 days
  • LOT – 3 days
  • Lufthansa – 1 day
  • SAS – 10 days
  • Swiss airlines – 1 day
  • TAP Portugal – 3 days
  • Turkish Airlines – 3 days
  • Ural Airlines – 3 days
  • UIA (Ukraine International Airlines) – 10 days
  1. Please note that this listing states that the reservation is valid UNTIL a certain number of days. In each specific case, booking tickets without payment may last a little less. Therefore, after you have booked your tickets, pay attention to the counter.
  2. In the window that opens, fill in all the fields. Select “New user”, enter your email, come up with a password, enter your First Name, Last Name (in Latin letters as in the passport), gender, citizenship, series and passport number, passport expiration date, phone number, put a tick in the “I agree” field, Click on “Next: placing an order”.
  3. A new window appears in which the order number and reservation code are written. Copy the received code.
  4. We go to the website www.checkmytrip.com (you can try to make a reservation on the websites viewtrip.com and www.virtuallythere.com). Here you can check the status of your reservation and print out your reservation confirmation for the embassy. In the “Reservation number” column we enter the reservation number copied a step earlier on the Agent.ru website, in the “Last name” column we enter our last name in Latin as in the international passport, and then click on the arrow.
  5. Our reservation details appear in the window. To save the receipt to your computer, you need to click on the “PDF” button; to print the confirmation, you need to click on the “Print” button
  6. Print your confirmation receipt for presentation.

What to do if you can't find your reservation?

There are rare cases when none of the above sites have your reservation. There are several reasons for this:

  • You have a 5-digit reservation number, but the sites listed above find reservations only using a 6-digit code. In this case, we need to go directly to the website of the airline that operates the flight you need and check your reservation on their website. To do this, you need to enter the reservation code and your last name, as in your passport.
  • Your reservation has expired. Check the status of your reservation in your personal account.
  • The program sometimes crashes. If your reservation is nowhere to be found, then most likely your order did not go through and you need to repeat the procedure.
  • If the company canceled the reservation the next day, try writing to agent.ru support and clarifying the reasons for canceling the tickets.

What kind of reservation is suitable for the embassy?

If you are booking tickets to obtain Schengen, then you will need tickets whose reservation lasts for at least 7 days, or even 10 ideally. Tickets must be valid for as long as possible while your documents are being processed.

There are 197 countries in the world and only 106 of them have an agreement with Russia on a visa-free regime. In other countries, you must obtain permission to enter, which is called a visa. To obtain this document, you need to contact the diplomatic mission of the selected country or visa center with an application and the established package of documents. All states do not like illegal migrants and, when issuing a visa, want to make sure that the foreigner leaves the country in a timely manner. To confirm the presence of such an intention, ticket reservations for a visa are used.

How to book a flight ticket

Air transport is the most in a fast way travel around the world and therefore the most popular. Depending on your desires, you can prefer comfort or low price flight. Therefore, travelers most often use plane ticket booking to obtain.

Consular officials interpret the availability of round-trip airline tickets as confirmation of the foreigner’s intention to visit their country exactly within the specified time frame and as confirmation of the desire to return home. Therefore, it is necessary to book air tickets for your visa in order to apply for entry permission at the embassy or consulate.

Tickets are quite expensive. However, their presence does not mean that a travel visa will certainly be issued. In addition, many people want to have a visa, for example, to, not for travel on specific dates, but as a guarantee of the opportunity to travel when the time and desire arise for this. In this case, there is no point in spending money on paying for a ticket. Let's talk about how to get around this obstacle.

The solution to the problem in this case is to book plane tickets without paying. Confirmation for diplomatic missions is the reservation, and not its payment, and you need to take advantage of this.

The rules of each specific company are different, but many of the carriers allow you to pay booked ticket in a few days. Sometimes this grace period is quite long.

It is these delays that you need to take advantage of when issuing an electronic air ticket for a visa.

When choosing a specific airline, read the cancellation policy: sometimes there are penalties for this transaction. Please note that the cost of the ticket will be blocked on your card when making a reservation, and you will have to pay a fine for refusing it in any case. The amount depends on the specific company; for example, canceling a reservation will cost you 2,350 rubles.

In addition, there are ticket booking agencies. Some of them allow you to book a ticket without paying even when the carrier company itself does not offer such a service.

The OneTwoTrip.com service allows you to return tickets for 9% of their cost, even if this is not possible according to the rules of the carrier company. There are also non-flight insurances. Look for options.

Purchasing a ticket for a low-cost airline

Booking plane tickets using the method described above is not the only option to confirm your intentions to fly into and leave the country. In particular, you can purchase a ticket for a low-cost airline.

Aviation companies seeking to minimize the cost of flights by reducing passenger comfort - low-cost airlines - are now quite common. Sometimes the cost of a ticket for their services is so low that you can sacrifice it to obtain the visa you are interested in.

In this case, you should purchase a ticket for a flight of such a company via the Internet, and they all sell their tickets this way. You will attach this travel document to the package of documents submitted to the consular service of the country you are interested in.

Confirmation of intentions to travel by other means of transport

Diplomatic mission officers who issue visas are actually of little interest in what type of transport you are going to travel with. They are interested in evidence that the trip will take place, and at the end of it the foreigner will leave the country.

Accordingly, you can get a reservation or buy a ticket for any other type of transport: train, bus, ship. The type of transport is not important, what is important is the availability of documentary evidence that you attach to the submitted package of documents.

The situation is more complicated when traveling by road. You will have to present documents to own the car or rent it, and you may need to create a kind of route sheet indicating the points and time parameters of the trip.

Obtaining a visa without booking tickets

Not all countries require documentary evidence of travel and departure intent.

To book an air ticket without paying, I use the website agent.ru. Most airlines require immediate payment, but there are also those who are willing to hold an unpaid reservation for up to 10 days.

  • Qatar - up to 10 days
  • Aeroflot - up to 2 days
  • Turkish Airlines – up to 10 days
  • KLM - up to 24 hours
  • UIA - up to 10 days
  • AlItalia - up to 24 hours
  • AirBaltic – up to 3 days
  • SAS - up to 2 days
  • AirBerlin - up to 4 days
  • AirFrance - up to 4 days
  • Lufthansa - up to 10 days
  • EuropeAir – up to 7 days

This list indicates that the reservation is valid UNTIL a certain number of days. Therefore, after you have booked your ticket, pay attention to the counter, more about it a little further...

UPD from October 19, 2017

Previously, I always made a reservation without payment on the agent.ru website. I like this method, so I shared it with you. But in Lately you write to me that agent.ru no longer shows the booking code for unpaid tickets. What are the alternatives?

  • The website euroavia.ru offers for 300 rubles. book a ticket for a visa without paying. They state that they will hold your reservation for 7 days, but what I read on the forums is not very good good feedback about them. They say they are scammers, they take the money and immediately cancel the ticket. I’m just telling you about the methods that exist, but I’m not ready to vouch for them. Whether you book tickets this way or not is your decision!
  • Some airlines allow you to keep your reservation without paying for up to 10 days. For example, Qatar, Turkish Airlines and others. After you have entered the passenger data and proceeded to payment, you can check the “Pay later” box.

Such a ticket can be printed for the embassy or border crossing, but I don’t know exactly how long the reservation will be valid. If it is the active reservation that is important, and not the presence of an unpaid ticket form, then I recommend writing directly to the airline and asking how long they are willing to wait.

  • Some tour. agencies can make reservations without payment. Call several agencies in your city and find out what they did.

How to book a ticket without paying

We go to the website agent.ru and select the country/city and date we need. For example, we fly to Amsterdam on November 8 and return on November 17.



We select the desired airline, in my case it is AirFrance. Don't pay attention to the price, as you won't be buying tickets.

Fill in the required data. In order to book a ticket without payment, you must first register on the website.

After you have entered your data and clicked the “Proceed to payment” button, a reservation code will appear on the screen, and at the very bottom of the page a counter that notifies you about the expiration date of the reservation.


How to print an air ticket without paying

You can find and print your reservation on one of the following sites:

  • checkmytrip
  • viewtrip
  • virtuallythere
  • myairlines

Over the past few months I have received record number letters asking for help in printing a reservation from the checkmytrip website. For many, the interface turned out to be incomprehensible, so I added photos from step by step instructions.

I can't find my reservation, what should I do?

  • You have a 5-digit reservation number, and the above sites find reservations only using a 6-digit code. In this case, we need to go directly to the carrier’s website and check our reservation there.
  • The reservation has expired. Pay attention to the counter!
  • The program sometimes crashes, very rarely, but it happens. If your reservation is nowhere to be found, most likely the order did not go through and the procedure must be repeated.
  • In the comments, several people said that they made a reservation with an airline that holds tickets without payment for up to 10 days, but agent.ru canceled them the next day. In this case, you need to write to agent.ru support and clarify the reasons for the cancellation.

Booking air tickets for a visa

If you are booking tickets to obtain Schengen, you will need a reservation that lasts for at least 7 days, or even 10 ideally. Tickets must be valid for as long as possible while your documents are being processed. This article contains only my experience and the experience of other travelers, which was successful (read the comments to the article!). But you should understand that I cannot give you a 100% guarantee, each case is unique. When booking a ticket without paying for a visa, the responsibility lies solely with you.

This is interesting

Often, in the package of documents for any visa, you are asked to provide round-trip tickets. But booking tickets for a visa is a risky business, as the visa may be denied. In this case, the tourist needs to consider options for booking a flight without payment.

How to get a visa if you have a flight reservation

As standard for any visa, you are asked to provide a bank statement, photographs, application forms, accommodation reservations, a travel voucher and air tickets.

It is best to buy tickets online on the airline’s website; after payment, you will receive a confirmation of purchase or reservation with data by email, this is exactly what you need to provide to the visa center.

In order to make a reservation you need:

  1. Go to the airline's website;
  2. Select destination and dates;
  3. Select the number of passengers and flight;
  4. Start filling out passenger information;
  5. Be sure to include your phone number and email, this is where the confirmation will come;
  6. Make the payment, do not forget to click the checkbox under “I agree to the terms and conditions...”.

Important! When choosing a date, you need to take into account that reviewing documents can take a long time, so do not take tickets for the next week in the USA; for example, it is better to take such tickets six months before the intended trip.

After payment, you can easily print out the tickets and take them to the consulate for approval. It is important to know that in case of refusal, some airlines agree to return tickets and money for them. But for this you should buy return tickets and not use a low-cost airline. It is better to book air tickets for a visa with major airlines, where about 30% of tickets can be returned and you can get your money back. At Aeroflot, for example, tickets are returned in the following categories:

  • Premium Business;
  • Premium Comfort;
  • Premium Economy;
  • OPTIMUM tariffs - return with a fine from 50 to 200 euros/dollars;*
  • Budget and Economy tariffs are non-refundable (including taxes and fees).

Schengen visa

You can also get a visa to Italy, Spain, France or other countries included in the Schengen zone after purchasing tickets. To do this, remember a few conditions:

  • You can purchase an air ticket to any city in the country, even if you later return from another city. For example, if it is cheaper to fly from Moscow to Barcelona, ​​but a tourist needs to go to Madrid, then it is better to buy cheap tickets, and only then get on Spanish transport in the capital.
  • Schengen visas are often issued by travel agencies; they do not guarantee that a visa will be issued, but they will help you fill out the documents correctly after ordering.

Additional Information! Some airlines allow up to 72 hours for payment, such as Turkish Airlines. After booking, time is given, which means you don’t have to pay right away.

How to make a flight reservation without paying for a visa

Experienced travelers have long learned to use various life hacks, so they know that a visa can be obtained by booking tickets without paying.

To get the coveted piece of paper, for which you do not have to pay, you can use various methods that will help you do this.

You can book a plane ticket online without paying.

To do this, use airlines that have a long period of free booking. These include:

  • EuropeAir up to 7 days
  • Korean Air up to 10 days
  • Lufthansa up to 2 days
  • Qatar up to 10 days
  • SAS up to 2 days
  • Turkish Airlines up to 10 days
  • United Airlines up to 7 days
  • AirBerlin up to 4 days
  • AirFrance up to 4 days
  • Aeroflot up to 2 days

The main thing to remember is that many airlines only make reservations for a day; this period is not enough to apply for a visa.

Some Airlines and sales sites for a small amount may extend the booking period. In AirFrance, for 5-15 euros you can extend the time to 7 days. OneTwoTrip will extend the period for 200 rubles. On Anywayanyday you can extend the term if you choose to pay in cash.

Use a special agency.

Some services will help you make a reservation for a long-stay visa. Such an agency is, for example, agent.ru.

All you need to do is:

  • Go on the website.
  • Choose a flight and direction, you don’t have to pay attention to the price.
  • Fill out the data and click “Apply”, payment can be delayed for some time, but you will immediately receive a confirmation by email, which you can print and storm the visa center.

This reservation can be canceled if desired. ahead of schedule or it will automatically disappear, it is worth remembering that sometimes the airline itself can shorten the holding period for tickets, so you need to book them in advance.

What if the reservation doesn't go through?

Sometimes the verification site itself may malfunction and not show tickets, there is no need to panic, for this:

  1. Check on similar sites
  2. Go to the airline website and check there
  3. Try checking the next day after purchase

In any case, you should reload the site several times until tickets are found.

Risks

Of course, there is always a risk of not getting a visa, even for experienced travelers. To reduce it, you should take out travel insurance. You can buy it directly on the airline’s website, where you should carefully read the conditions for receiving a refund.

Some companies will turn non-refundable tickets into refundable ones for a small amount, and with this rate it will be possible to return almost 100% of the ticket price. But the cheapest promotional tickets, as a rule, are not refundable, so it is better to give preference to proven national companies.

You can also purchase a ticket from airlines that can cancel the reservation if the passenger does not receive a visa, such as KLM, MAY.

It is important to remember that a visa decision is made by a living person, many consuls simply do not check the authenticity of vouchers and reservations, so many tourists cheat and submit false documents, sometimes it works, but it is too risky, since it is illegal, and they certainly will not give a visa with with these tickets.

Some tourists even go to the most extreme measures, realizing that the decision is made by a person who is already overloaded with work; they think that he will not want to check each ticket for validity, which means they can create it in Photoshop or show an old printout. But this is very dangerous, as they may not allow you to enter this country at all or may issue you a fine.

To protect yourself you can also:

  • Pay for the ticket and bring real confirmation;
  • Book other transport;
  • Buy a tour.

Even if you have real tickets, there is always a risk that the tourist will not be given a visa. Therefore, before going to the visa center, you should check not only air tickets, but also other certificates, especially if the country is not famous for issuing visas easily.

Note! You need to be especially careful when collecting documents for countries such as the USA, Japan, Australia, Canada, and the UK. All of them are very difficult to issue visas to Russians, and the package of documents is many times larger than for Schengen visas.

How to apply for a visa and provide flight reservations as confirmation

The procedure for applying for a visa is quite simple:

  1. You should register with the Consulate of the country where you plan to go. You can also contact a visa center, where the procedure will be faster and more pleasant, but an additional fee will be charged for their services.
  2. Collect everything necessary documents. Their list depends on the specific country, but the standard is a photograph, special requirements for each visa, certificates from work, registration, bank statement, booked hotels and round-trip tickets.
  3. Some visas require fingerprints; the consulate will help you with this.

Mandatory documents must be a bank statement, registration and tickets. You can print them from the airline’s website or from the same website where tickets are checked for their validity.

It is important that the tickets can be round-trip, and you can present a circular route, for example, show tickets Moscow - New York, and return tickets Los Angeles - Moscow, the main thing is that the consul sees that the tourist, in any case, will return home .

Or you can present tickets to another country, for example, Moscow - New York, New York - Paris, which also indicates that the tourist will leave the country within the specified period.

It is possible to book an air ticket without paying for a visa, besides, the consulates themselves do not insist that it be paid in full, they just need to show a printout of the reservation, and you can do the same with a hotel. But with accommodation everything is simpler, just find a hotel that does not require prepayment and which can be canceled for free before the specified date.

The main thing is to convince the consul that the passenger has reasons to return; to do this, submit as many certificates as possible from work, school, bank statements - this all confirms that the tourist will return and will not live and work illegally in a foreign country.

*Prices are current as of July 2018.