Perhaps this is normal but when I checked in for my flight to China the Delta agent asked me when I was returning as I have a 30 day limit stay on a year Visa to China. As everyone goes to Hong Kong to get their Visa and Passport stamped for the 30 day requirement and maybe I am flying another airline home, why would she ask? And do I have to answer? I just happened to have a return ticket this time, but later I thought -how is this her business? Last I flew I had tickets on different airlines and no one questioned me. Do all airlines do this?

Worst part of the trip you are no longer allowed curb check-in at DTW for China on Delta flights, NWA allowed this.

Funniest part, TSA did a walk around random bag check but told you to keep the bags on your arm or shoulder. Obviously could not see inside and could not re-zip them. Lot of sorry's "can't get it zipped back up".

Chooses not to participate in FlyerTalk any longer because of objection to homophobic comments and lack of concern by staff.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/only-...policy-ft.html

Virtually every country on earth requires a ticket back. Surprisingly, China is ok with a one-way ticket.

http://www.delta.com/planning_reserv...tion/index.jsp

Assuming you had a visa, you had everything in order. It is true that if you are refused admission, the carrier you came with is responsible for taking you back, but it was a pointless question because even if you had no return your carrier could not deny you boarding.

So they were ok with rollaboards still sitting on the ground? Vey strange.

I had issues with that, I moved to the US earlier in the year, and booked my ticket with UA, they kept rejecting my CC. Why? Because it was a one way ticket and I booked with an Australian credit card on their Aussie site so they wouldn't let me book it without assurances that I had a visa.

By international agreement, Airlines are responsible for the cost of a deportation flight if they bring someone in who overstays their visa. They therefore usually ask to cover their own butt and they ask everyone who is not a citizen of the destination country. Or they are supposed to anyhow. Depends on the airline too.

This is an interesting statement. I am about to permanently move overseas to Cyprus. Part of the documentation that customs wants to clear my shipment of household items is proof of a one-way ticket to Cyprus. Based on what you have said, I may run into a documentation conflict.

Of course, I am not buying a one-way ticket to Cyprus and I can explain that to Customs (through-away ticketing or going to see my mom at Christmas).

What I said is exactly correct and holds for a vast majority of travelers. Basically a country wants to make sure a passenger does not stay or get stranded in their country. I linked to a basic version of Timatic: there is a full text of Timatic which covers (among other things) exceptions to this rule (such as moving, military on orders, seamen...). Based on what you say and can document, you will be fine.

I am not so sure about this. If a passenger is not allowed into a country by Immigration, the carrier is responsibly for bringing them back.

Overstay is different. If I take UA (for example) to BKK and instead of staying 90 days, stay 2 years, is UA somehow responsible for getting me back? I do not think so.

Some of it comes down to "they should have known" -- you have a 30 day stay limit, but your return flight is in 45 days. Immigration might take this as a presumption that you were going to overstay, and that the airline was complicit by transporting you even though they knew you didn't meet the requirement for return/onward travel.

If immigration presumed you were going to overstay, they probably would not let you in in the first place. The carrier would take your return ticket and bring you back.

This is most certainly not always true.

The immigration agents of many countries may ask you to provide proof of onward travel if you are entering their country as a tourist (for instance, with a tourist visa in your passport, or under a visa-waiver programme) and may legally deny you entry if you are unable to provide this, but there are plenty of other circumstances - such as holders of immigration visas or other people planning to emigrate - where proof of onward journey is not only not required, it is non-sensical.

True, but the airline may also be subject to a fine on top of the return flight.

Yes, it obviously only applies when there's an exit requirement.

Seems like there was a thread on FlyerTalk recently about someone who was denied boarding because his flights indicated an overstay, but he had planed a nested trip, exiting to a 3rd country to reset the time during the trip.