The traveller described having to resolve the onward-flight question at check-in. The document was needed before boarding for Colombia, while there was still a flight to catch and an airport queue to rejoin.
If you're arriving on a one-way ticket and planning the rest of your South America trip as you go, the decision is straightforward: have a credible exit route, with the right document, ready for the airline's document check. You don't necessarily need a return flight to the city you started from. You do need to know what you're going to show if someone asks how you plan to leave Colombia.
What the departure from Colombia needs to show
Colombia's migration authority lists an outbound travel ticket among the documentation that can be required of foreign visitors. UK travel guidance also tells British travellers to be able to show onward or return travel within the permitted 90-day visit. Neither source tells a traveller to fly back to their home country specifically; the relevant evidence concerns departure from Colombia. Requirements depend on nationality and immigration status, so use the rules that apply to your own trip.
Consider an open-ended route: Madrid to Bogotá, a few weeks in Colombia, then Ecuador or Peru. A flight leaving Colombia, such as a Bogotá–Quito itinerary, documents an onward journey. Bogotá–Medellín isn't; it's an internal connection. And an undated idea to take a bus across the border leaves the airline agent with much less to review than a dated booking.
The important distinction is between knowing where you might go and having a departure you can document. You can be flexible about your month in Colombia while still making a considered choice about the next country.
Three things worth deciding before the check-in queue
The exit airport. Bogotá (BOG), Medellín (MDE) and Cartagena (CTG) serve different end points to a journey. If you'll finish on Colombia's Caribbean coast, automatically choosing Bogotá because that's where you arrive may leave you with a geographically odd plan. Set the departure city where you actually expect to finish.
The timing. A proposed onward flight should fall within the period of stay available to you. If you might apply for an extension later, that doesn't make an extended stay your current entry permission. Date the itinerary for the visit you're planning now.
The document. An issued airline ticket and a temporary flight reservation aren't identical. A ticketed flight comes with an e-ticket number and permits travel subject to its conditions. A temporary reservation records an itinerary and a PNR for a limited time; it doesn't buy the seat or allow you to board the onward flight. An airline or immigration officer may ask specifically for a ticketed journey, so the document type matters just as much as the route.
This is why the common internet advice to “just buy anything out of the country” misses half the decision. A poorly chosen destination or wrong document can make an otherwise simple question harder to answer.
Buying a flexible ticket versus holding a reservation
In that account, the traveller solved the check-in problem by purchasing a refundable LATAM fare. That can be a sensible option when you want an issued ticket and have enough available funds. Just read the actual fare conditions: refundability varies by fare and booking channel. The American 24-hour cancellation discussion online is not a universal cancellation right for every ticket sold anywhere in the world.
A different traveller may need a temporary onward flight reservation because the airline or document process accepts a reservation and the next flight is not yet ready to purchase. In that situation, a real PNR with a dated itinerary is more useful than a screenshot of an unbooked search result. Choose a provider that explains the active period and gives you the original booking record.
Avionward arranges temporary reservations through Travelport, from $12 for one-way travel. You choose the route, departure date and passenger details; it sends a PDF itinerary with the PNR by email. Immediate reservations are guaranteed to arrive by email in 2 minutes after successful payment. Standard reservations have 48 hours of validity, with a seven-day option for eligible departure dates. Those periods refer to how long the reservation remains active, not how many days you'll be travelling.
Enter the departure airport and date that match your plans when preparing the onward reservation. For a check-in on Friday, arrange its creation so the active window covers Friday's document review. There is also an Activate Later option if you'd rather place the order ahead of time and decide when to create the record. The timing guide explains the difference.
Check the itinerary the evening before flying
Open the original confirmation and work through the details the check-in agent needs to read:
- Does the itinerary name the same passenger shown in the passport?
- Does the proposed departure actually leave Colombia, from the airport that fits the journey?
- Is its date within the permission available for this visit?
- Is the reservation active when you expect to show it, and can you retrieve the PNR?
- If the airline requires an issued ticket rather than a reservation, do you have that document instead?
Have your accommodation address and arrival flight handy too. Colombia's own entry guidance mentions travel, accommodation and financial details as part of visitor screening. A coherent itinerary is easier to discuss than several disconnected booking emails.
Save the PDF and its booking reference before you leave for the airport. Keep the outbound date easy to find alongside your arrival flight, so you can show the complete journey at check-in.