Hi, I'm currently in the Philippines and am trying to figure out how to plan a weekend trip to somewhere else in Southeast Asia.

From what I understand, PH only gives 59 day visa extensions, then you can just keep renewing every 45 days or so, or you can leave and then come back over and over again because US citizens automatically get 30 days.

I'm currently under a 59 day single entry visa. My departure ticket from here is not until January. So I'm trying to figure out my next move.

I wanted to plan a trip out and then get 30 days, but I'm worried about trying to board a plane back to PH. This is because my ticket back to US isn't until January. When I initially went here, my BP said Visa Required or something similar, and I was checked for a visa at each gate.

So my questions:

1. If I travel from another SE Asian country back to the Philippines, and my flight to US isn't until January, will they require a visa to board??

2. If so, what are my options to make a weekend trip work?

I don't think you'll get refused by the airline. They might ask some questions but you could explain your intentions or basically say that you are travelling in and out. Local (Filipino) airlines will ask less questions than international airlines, they will also be more aware of exact regulations.

Immigration shouldn't be an issue neither, in the past few years I have never had to actually show an onward or outward ticket, you just state the number of days you intend to stay.

Philippine immigration requires that you have an onward ticket for travel outside of the Philippines. Most airlines will want to see this before they will let you check in for the flight.

Nothing specifies that the onward flight has to be within the 30 days of your visa (you can now actually extend your visa in country for up to three years). However I have heard of people who have been denied boarding when their onward ticket was beyond 30 days. So potentially you might have a problem.

To be 100% safe I would buy a throw away ticket, a flight to anywhere will do, Cebu Pacific or Air Asia normally have sales every couple of weeks and you should be able to get a ticket for USD 20 or USD30

My friend tried to use a doctored AirAsia ticket to board in Hong Kong. She wasn't flying AirAsia. They scanned the ticket and found it wasn't a real one. Crafty! But how do they do that? Do airlines all share flight data with each other? Have other people had their tickets checked to that level?

She hopped online and bought a burner ticket and was OK. Just seems odd to me that airlines can check other tickets. If immigration could do it, that makes sense, but airlines?

That is fraud under HK law and she is lucky she was not turned over to the authorities.

There are security built into airline tickets that scanner and trained staff can pick up very easily.

When presenting documents to gain something one should be prepare for them to verify the document. If she is into Gaming Macau would be a better destination than HK.

It has been my experience lately that the airlines have started taking the valid onward ticket from the Philippines issue VERY seriously and are indeed verifying that onward tickets are valid. So whereas in the past I might have said just print one up for that purpose, these days it really does have to be valid. The jig is up on the ol' doctored printout trick. However AFIK any VALID onward ticket should work regardless of date so it should not need to be within 30 days.

In probably close to 60 or 70 entries to the Philippines I have never once been asked by Philippine immigration to show one, but the airlines are asking at check-in pretty much 100% of the time now if I'm on a one way ticket or a return ticket originating in the Philippines.

Never been ask for onward ticket departing Philippines by their immigration when entering with any of my passports and/or APEC card.