Depends on country to country. Singapore, for example, asks for a ticket. As I said, it's more of an academic question in this case as I don't need to apply for any visas.

It's just more of a frustration and poor customer service issue. If I ask the airline to issue a ticket, why can't they just issue it instead of making customers wait for an indeterminate time. It's the complete lack of any timeframe that is a bother.