TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Is a return flight ticket required?

I'm going to SXM (dutch) next week to study at AUC, my university said that once I get there they will work to get my student visa, and so when I go there and enter with a standard tourist visa, SXM immigration will want to see a return ticket. My university recommends I buy a refundable return flight.

Do they actually look to see if you have a return flight? Refundable flights are really expensive and have added fees, so I'd rather not buy one if I don't have to.

Why take the chance. Buy the ticket and check it up to part of you education expenses. Won't cost that much when all is said and done when you really have to have a return ticket.

Welcome to ttol.

Enjoy your experience in SXM.

Tix are wild at the moment. WJ changed their fare structure from $100 increments to several hundred dollars... if you want to play by the rules, yyz is your only option to save $. (Not sure where you live)

Do note a return flight from sxm is often a couple hundred cad more than the same ticket on a return booking. It's hwy robbery.

And AC flight is even higher.

You have the option to buy a really affordable ferry ticket to Anguilla or fly to Saba or Statia for a getaway on Winair.

And when you really are ready to fly home... Flair has $1+ fares from random hot spots (none near sxm but island hopping is a thing if you are in no hurry and not afraid of Flair). This may or may not be bydget friendly.

In my 15 yrs of island hopping, ive never once produced proof of a return flight. And from memory they stamp my passport up to 3 months...but not always. SXM immigration often asks me for exact location of my accommodation though.

PS don't forget to crack a book once in awhile, sxm is addictive.

CC
First landed 15 yrs ago...and still addicted to stitching my vacations with shorter gaps between trips.

They rarely ask for a return ticket, airlines often check you have a return as they will have to fly you home should you be inadmissable to the country. Buy your normal 1 way ticket and then buy a refundable 1 way ticket home for a couple of months out. When you are in SXM cancel the 2nd ticket for a full refund

As @Uksimonusa stated, the return ticket is most often an airline requirement because they have a bond to fly pax that are not admitted back to their origin. For St. Martin you might look into getting a (refundable) flight to another Caribbean Island; that would be cheaper than a long-haul flight.

oooh ok, that makes sense, thanks guys.

So instead of booking a return flight, I can book a flight to another Island (refundable)? I'll try looking.

I don't know if booking a flight to another island wouldn't also require a return ticket to point of origin. Someone here gave the advise to purchase a fully refundable ticket back to where you left from, then after in SXM cancel it.

Ye, its just that most refundable tickets I see are only refunded in credit, or theres a refund fee. The ones that do refund in full back in cash cost $3-4k for a one way ticket, and idk if theres some hidden caveat to that, so I'd rather not take the risk for something that they might not even check and then be left with a 3-4k ticket that I'm not gonna use.

I've seen that legally all flights can be refunded within 24 hours of purchase, I've seen some airlines sites mention it too (though again idk if theres caveat, like its only in the US or something). My flight to SXM would be 7-8 hours, so I could probably purchase a return flight before leaving and then cancel when I land, or cancel as soon as I board if the inboarding airline checks. If nothing else I might do this, but still I would rather have a ticket thats according to the airline fully refundable.

Call the airline for exact answers on the refund policy.

Have some friends that did just that, booked a ticket when they were at MIA and canceled it when they got to SXM

The airlines at times has asked for your return ticket. I almost always buy one way tickets and at times on different airlines. Morning of your flight just buy a one way ticket. Once boarding cancel it. Airlines give you 24 hours to cancel. JetBlue, American and Delta definitely do that. But if you have a school visa it shouldn’t be an issue.

We also usually book one way fares, the days of buying round trip to save money are mostly over. I would take Kim's advice and do it day of travel and then cancel, you can pick a day into the next three months that is the least expensive when you do that. I don't think I have ever been asked for a return flight proof, not sure how or if they really monitor that since we have also done multiple airlines.

Once, many years ago, we booked our return with a different airline than AA and was asked by AA at check in when we departed SEA if we had a return ticket. Took me off guard.

One time we booked two one ways, both on AA. When we were leaving the US, they asked us for the return ticket. I told them it's on AA, can't you look it up? They said no. So, I went through our stack of papers and found our confirmation number. Weird. So anyway, they DO ask for it sometimes.

Ok I'm going to give them a call and ask about it

Wise decision.