Flights in and out of the DR

I desperately need some help ASAP.

My friend and I are originally from England and we are currently working in Canada. Our visas expire on August 21st. Before we go back to England we want to visit the DR. However, we are having a huge hassle over the flights. We would ideally like a one way trip to the Dr and then from the DR a one way trip to England. But we have been told that this is not possible firstly because we cannot get a one way fare to the DR from Canada because we are not residents there. We have been told to get a return and not to use the return part of the ticket, and then to purchase a one way home to England from the DR, but does anyone know if they do one ways and how much they will cost. Another problem with the DR leg of our trip is the fact that if we want flights only we can only purchase 7 or 14 day flights, but we want to stay there at least a month. It has been suggested to us that we buy a return from Toronto to Puerto Plata and then get a flight from Toronto to England, we didn't really want to do this, can anyone suggest a better idea, or is this the best option??? We just want to enjoy the DR for as long as we please and then return home to England via the cheapest means necessary, any suggestions???

If anyone knows any phone numbers or any email addresses of any travel agents in the DR so that I can get in touch with them myself, please include them in your response.

Cheers

Nicky

See http://www.domrep-hotels.com.do/opetur/welcome.htm.

Jim Hinsch JimHinsch@CSI.COM

[Robert]

It's true that you will need a return, they will not let you enter on a one way, don't bother trying, just don't use the return leg. It is possible for you to by a one way ticket from one of the British tour operators here. These are around 100-150 UK pounds and fly to either Gatwick or Manchester. The downside of this is you can only find out availability of the charter flights around 7 days before the flight is due to depart. I have done this a number of times flying back to London. 4-5 charter flights leave the DR to England every week, so you can usually get a seat.

I suggest you speak directly to one of the following tour operators here in the DR. They do not have e-mail!

Cosmos 809 586 4435 Unijet 809 320 3014 Sunworld 809 320 0611

Robert.

In the past I have been able to make a multi-leg travel.(not to DR but to other places) Depending on times and things it usually works out cheaper. I have even flown to one airport, and flew out of a different airport, so the arrival and departure airports were not the same. No problems for the travel agent and you have all your tickets before you leave with confirmed seats.

What I don't know and maybe Tom, Jim or DR1 can tell you, since it is NOT a round trip if it will still be valid. I would guess as long as you have a ticket out of the DR it should not matter.

Jerry

You can buy a one-way ticket on regularly scheduled aircraft, connecting in NYC, Miami, or San Juan to the DR and can buy one-ways back to one of these gateway cities and from there to England, but it is often cheaper to buy round-trip tickets and not use the second half. Make the comparison and then decide. You may have to combine carriers, but that is done all the time.

When you arrive in the DR, immigration may or may not aske to see a return ticket. It does not have to be a ticket you plan on using or the second half of a round-trip, just a ticket out of the country before your tourist card expires. On my last visit a couple weeks ago, they did not ask to see my ticket.

I personally don't use the charters because they don't have a lot of backup aircraft (or crew) should a mechanical delay occur and the savings to me isn't worth the risk of a cancel or lengthy delay.

The DR always seems to start enforcing some law that never before was heavily enforced and after a while they slack up again. Lately it is the return tickets (Like so many of us are sneaking in on one-way tickets and producing a return ticket will some how deter us). I remember for a while they were requiring customs forms to be filled out, then they stopped, now they want them again, but they never read them.

I always mark down I have gifts, electronics, AND meat products but they never say anything. They just take the form and wave me through or don't even read the form, open my luggage, and have me shut it again without ever even having shuffled through it. For a while, every motoconcho had to have a helmet or get cited, then they just carried them around for a while, now hardly anybody has them.

Just make sure you have an outbound ticket with you in case they ask and if for some reason you don't, tell them you have an electronic ticket so you cannot produce a physical ticket. This has happened to me a couple times for real and they just accepted my answer. Now I carry the receipt just to avoid the hassle.

Jim Hinsch JimHinsch@CSI.COM

I also do this trip 2 or 3 times a year we go from england on the most econimical way poss flight only and we allways stay for at least 6 weeks but we keep hold of the outdated tickets and use them for proof that we travelled out with a particular carrier then we go back with them stand by. Its is technically an offence to sell a one way ticket on a charter plane departing from the dr to the uk without this proof. But it does go on as I have also choosen this way more than once and the numbers that dr1 have given are the only ones that will do this without the outdated tickets If you go directly to brittana uk leisure or airtours the answer will be sorry no can do.

Nicky,

I had a problem with this last April.

I came to the DR from Germany on a charter flight with a round trip ticket. From Puerto Plata I flew with American Airlines to Miami, but did not carry my ticket for the flight back to Germany. When I checked in at MIA the lady wanted to see my ticket to leave the DR ("Passenger must proof ticket to leave the country"). As I did not have it she told me I would have to buy a one-way ticket from POP to whereever, otherways she could not check me in. She then found another way, which did not cost me anything: I got a "One Trip VIT Express Ticket". This is an open-open ticket, you just have to show your credit card and you get a blank ticket. If you want to use it, you call a reservation office, make your reservation and fill the ticket out ourself. At this time your credit card gets charged. Otherwise, you only have to destroy it when you don´t need it and it will cost you nothing.

This way you would avoid problems with DR immigrations.

Bye

Ronad

Thank you all very much for responding to my posting, I will check out all the information that has been given and will keep you posted,

Once again thanks,

Regards Nicky