Booking a throwaway ticket from HEL->USA
 

Hello, due to a complicated series of events I may need to help my partner book a one-way flight from Helsinki to the USA. However, one-way tickets are considerably more expensive than round-trip tickets originating from HEL or European airports so I'm thinking about booking a RT ticket and not using the return portion.

They are in possession of an Indonesian passport with a valid US visa. They have a single-entry Schengen visa that will be used up by the time that they need to return to the US. Do airlines or immigration care or check for EU visa validity when booking/flying such an itinerary?

Thanks for the advice.

I don't know the answer to your question, but frequent-flyer miles can offer provide good value for one-way intercontinental travel.

I see that on a couple of days in January, Aeroflot is offering HEL-SVO-LAX for $479 one way. (Not sure if the traveler in question would be allowed to transit SVO, or if a transit visa would be required by Russia.)

The airlines generally don’t look into travel document requirements for the “return” part of the journey other than what is required to see if the person is admissible to the immediate destination for which the passenger is checking in on a ticket.

I’ve seen Indian passport users with open US visas and “ending” Schengen visas do throw away ticketing on Schengen-US-Schengen tickets. The thing that may come up is at times with the airline security contractors, but having a separately ticketed itinerary for US-non-Schengen destination to which the persons remain admissible can readily alleviate that concern if it even comes up. That and the possibility of having plans subject to change can make it fly anyway.