In this day and age of flexible travel, where one can put together convoluted itineraries, I still get asked without fail at the SQ checkin counter in SIN to show proof that I'm returning home.

And it oftentimes raises an eyebrow with the checkin agent when I say that I haven't decided yet which flight I'm going to take - it's not uncommon to, say, I fly to LHR, but I may return via a different European city. Or hop across the Atlantic to spend some time in the US before returning. And sometimes I may decide to change my return city and airline midway during my travels - depending on what location catches my fancy (and whether my SQ waitlist goes through).

And surely the checkin agent (and the airline they represent) knows that this is purely another CYA action. It wouldn't take much effort for someone to decide to abandon their return - simply not turn up to their flight, or just make a phonecall to cancel their flight before the scheduled departure.

Hence, I'm trying to understand why SQ checkin agents still give so much grief to a passenger, insisting to see their return ticket. And very recently I even asked the agent directly - what happens then if I didn't have a return ticket because I haven't decided from which city and on which airline I'd return? The answer "then I can't check you in for your outbound flight" really surprised me.

Does anyone know the rationale for this seemingly ineffectual question?