mahasamatman

Not my experience at all. CBP has virtually unlimited authority - CBSA does not. Canadian law has many more protections in place than U.S. law in this area.

There is a perception that it is, but I don't think it really is. The perception is based on the misconception that wrongdoers are either thrifty or stupid, and that's simply not the case.

channa

I think it used to be a flag for TSA years ago, but it hasn't been for a while.

As for border control, I know Canada can see your ticket (they've made reference to airports I started in). When I've been on one ways, worst they'll do is ask when I'm leaving or how I'm getting home, but it's never been a big deal. We're land neighbors after all, even without a ticket, one could drive or take a bus.

zombietooth

I exclusively use OW awards for my international personal travel (in J or F), and have never once been asked to provide proof of a return ticket.

I am very often asked how long I will be in country, but that is all.

garykung

OW tickets means you may not have a plan leaving the country, which implicates that you may do something against the law of that country.

Being asked for the duration of your stay is a definite indicator that the IO is "interested" in your trip.

I am not a friend of both agencies.

But my experience told me otherwise, while both CBP and CBSA have virtually unlimited authority, CBP does not exercise its authority to the full extent. On the other hand, CBSA will exercise its authority to the full extent.

bocastephen

The border control question is a non-issue. Just keep a copy of the return ticket receipt, and it might already be in their system anyway. I would give an outside 5% chance the OP will even be asked about it entering Canada, and showing them the return ticket will render the inspector's question moot.

POS is also a non-issue - we use different point of sale locations to issue tickets for our clients on a regular basis as it can save considerable expense, and it has no effect on their travel logistics or experience.

imgonnafly

i've never gone to a ticket counter. can't you just go online and change your country on the top and that changes the POS.

i've bought via AA by calling their local country number and never had an issue either.

mahasamatman

I think you watch too many bad movies. If that were true, it would take an awfully stupid criminal to book a one-way ticket, and those aren't the ones you need to worry about anyway.

You know very little about CBP if you believe that. Being married to an immigration attorney, I hear stories that would make you cringe.

Not on united.com. They base the POS on the credit card billing address.

docbert

I have. Multiple times, including at least twice when going to Canada from the US. I'm not a US citizen, which might make a difference.

On multiple occasions when traveling from abroad (eg, Australia) to the US I've been asked to show my return ticket at check-in when it wasn't on the same reservation - a ticket out is a requirement of entering the US under the Visa Waiver Program. Once I've been asked to show my return ticket details at US CBP (even though the return was on the same booking), which occurred after I mentioned that I was in the US for a job interview (for a job outside of the US).

For US->Canada, as recently as last year I was called to the podium before boarding to show my return details which were on a different airline (AS out, UA back). I was also asked to show my return flight details on a US->Canada flight a few years ago (again on a single ticket) when I mentioned to the Canadian immigration officer that I was coming to Canada to renew my US visa.

garykung

You overthink a little bit. For example, working without proper authorization is still considered a violation of the law of any countries.

I am sure there are always extreme cases. What I mean is in general.

findark

Yes, but it will error out on purchase (or reprice?) unless your billing address is in that country.

emcampbe

Thanks for the insight, everyone.

As for CBSA, definitely not worried about them. Yes, they can be 'meaner' then CBP, really...I've definitely heard stories. But the chances we'll need to even talk to anyone is pretty slim....we both have Nexus, and anyway, we are both Canadian citizens (me, with dual US), so no reason why they should have a problem anyway. I also just did two one-way awards to YYZ where I didn't even book the return until 2 days after I came in on the outbound, and no issues there, either.

Taxes (HST) kind of make sense, but I don't think by that much. It is showing weirdly anyway...on the one-way ticket back, UA shows three lines "Goods and Services Tax", which is incorrectly listed anyway (should be Harmonized Sales Tax), but only totals $6.40, which I showed to be about 5.5% of the return base fare. So that doesn't even make sense in itself.

I was using the US version of UA.com when I was looking (and will pay with a US card), so either way, should be a US point of sale. But perhaps there is a difference for sales city? Part of me wants to think that, but even the outbound is showing a few $ cheaper...perhaps its UAs displaying the one-way pricing based on the round trip fare weirdly...not sure.

bocastephen

If you use united.com - in these circumstances, just use a different country location for an OLTA like Expedia or Orbitz to avoid this risk.

therossinator

WineCountryUA

Fare class is not enough to answer this, you need the fare basis which is provided during purchase if you check for the fare rules. (At "Review trip itinerary" look at the bottom of the page for "View fare rules and restrictions")
There is likely a difference in penalties or some other option (stopovers. ...).
OWs will have separate cancellation / change fees for each ticket.
RTs may have a min/mix stay.
There may be day of the week differences.

And GUM has generally been treated as an "international" route and not using the same ticketing policies as a "domestic/north american" route

whitethunder

I am based in YEG so always fly to/from Canada. Trying using the "multi-city" tool, sometimes gets me the same roundtrip price that would have been more booked using the "round trip" search