To book an air ticket without paying, I use the website agent.ru. Most airlines require immediate payment, but there are also those who are willing to hold an unpaid reservation for up to 10 days.

• Qatar - up to 10 days
• Aeroflot - up to 2 days
• Turkish Airlines – up to 10 days
• KLM - up to 24 hours
• UIA - up to 10 days
• AlItalia - up to 24 hours
• AirBaltic – up to 3 days
• SAS - up to 2 days
• AirBerlin - up to 4 days
• AirFrance - up to 4 days
• Lufthansa - up to 10 days
• EuropeAir – up to 7 days

This list indicates that the reservation is valid UNTIL a certain number of days. Therefore, after you have booked your ticket, pay attention to the counter, more about it a little further...

UPD from October 19, 2018

Previously, I always made a reservation without payment on the agent.ru website. I like this method, so I shared it with you. But lately you’ve been writing to me that Agent.ru no longer shows the booking code for unpaid tickets. What are the alternatives?

• The website euroavia.ru offers for 300 rubles. book a ticket for a visa without paying. They claim that they will hold your reservation for 7 days, but I have read not very good reviews about them on the forums. They say they are scammers, they take the money and immediately cancel the ticket. I’m just telling you about the methods that exist, but I’m not ready to vouch for them. Whether you book tickets this way or not is your decision!

• Some airlines allow you to keep your reservation without paying for up to 10 days. For example, Qatar, Turkish Airlines and others. After you have entered the passenger data and proceeded to payment, you can check the “Pay later” box.

Such a ticket can be printed for the embassy or border crossing, but I don’t know exactly how long the reservation will be valid. If it is the active reservation that is important, and not the presence of an unpaid ticket form, then I recommend writing directly to the airline and asking how long they are willing to wait.

• Some tour. agencies can make reservations without payment. Call several agencies in your city and find out what they did.

How to book a ticket without paying

We go to the website agent.ru and select the country/city and date we need. For example, we fly to Amsterdam on November 8 and return on November 17.

We select the desired airline, in my case it is AirFrance. Don't pay attention to the price, as you won't be buying tickets.

Fill in the required data. In order to book a ticket without payment, you must first register on the website.

After you have entered your data and clicked the “Proceed to payment” button, a reservation code will appear on the screen, and at the very bottom of the page a counter that notifies you about the expiration date of the reservation.

How to print an air ticket without paying

You can find and print your reservation on one of the following sites:

• checkmytrip
• viewtrip
• virtuallythere
• myairlines

Over the past few months, I have received a record number of emails asking for help printing a booking from checkmytrip. For many, the interface was incomprehensible, so I added photos with step-by-step instructions to the article.

I can't find my reservation, what should I do?

• You have a 5-digit reservation number, and the above sites find reservations only using a 6-digit code. In this case, we need to go directly to the carrier’s website and check our reservation there.
• The reservation has expired. Pay attention to the counter!
• The program sometimes crashes, very rarely, but it happens. If your reservation is nowhere to be found, most likely the order did not go through and the procedure must be repeated.
• In the comments, several people said that they made a reservation with an airline that holds tickets without payment for up to 10 days, but agent.ru canceled them the next day. In this case, you need to write to agent.ru support and clarify the reasons for the cancellation.

Booking air tickets for a visa

If you are booking tickets to obtain Schengen, you will need a reservation that lasts for at least 7 days, or even 10 ideally. Tickets must be valid for as long as possible while your documents are being processed. This article contains only my experience and the experience of other travelers, which was successful (read the comments to the article!). But you should understand that I cannot give you a 100% guarantee, each case is unique. When booking a ticket without paying for a visa, the responsibility lies solely with you.

This is interesting

To obtain a Schengen visa, consulates require booking a two-way air ticket. Also, in some countries, to cross the border you need to present a return ticket or a ticket from the country to a third country.

Dear readers! The article talks about typical ways to resolve legal issues, but each case is individual. If you want to know how solve exactly your problem- contact a consultant:

APPLICATIONS AND CALLS ARE ACCEPTED 24/7 and 7 days a week.

It's fast and FOR FREE!

This is inconvenient for a tourist; the date and country of return are not always clear, and a visa may be refused. And if it’s easy to book a hotel through Booking and cancel, it’s more difficult with air tickets. Let's figure out how to book air tickets online without paying.

What to pay attention to

Online booking of air tickets may be required in the following situations:

There is a risk of not receiving a visa	Some states refuse to issue it. Therefore, purchasing tickets in advance before resolving the issue is risky
The tourist doesn't have enough money	It happens that the funds have not yet arrived in your account, but the convenient fare for the flight and the cost of the ticket are already familiar. In this case, air tickets are booked. Purchase will be processed later
To obtain a visa, you sometimes need to present an air ticket in the other direction.	It happens that a tourist does not intend to return soon or does not want to fly back the same way. For example, it will not be possible to fly to Thailand without a return ticket - the passenger will not be boarded on the flight

You can book a plane ticket free of charge:

In order not to lose money, time and nerves, you need to assess the situation:

1. When planning to book a ticket, you need to analyze which airlines offer a longer retention period.
2. Calculate the time that affects the duration of maintaining the reservation required to complete the paperwork.
3. Pay attention to the conditions for canceling your reservation if demand increases.
4. Clarify the sanctions for refusing to pay for a reserved seat.

Step-by-step instruction

To book air tickets online without paying, you need to follow the instructions:

1. Go to the booking site and enter where and from where you want to fly. You can go to the website https://www.ozon.travel/. For example, if you need a return ticket to go through passport control in Thailand and get a stamp for a month. Therefore, we will make a reservation for a ticket from Bangkok to Moscow. We set the date no later than a month from the date of arrival in Thailand. Click “Find flights”.
2. A list of flights appears. Ignore the cost, you're not paying for the ticket anyway. Select the appropriate air ticket and click “Select”.
3. On the page that appears, you need to enter your data and click “Next”.
4. Cancel additional services and click “Place an order”.
5. Select the “Pay later” option and rewrite the reservation code. Below it will be written until what date the reservation is valid.
6. After booking your ticket, you need to check that it is confirmed and print it. To do this, go to the website www.checkmytrip.com or www.myairlines.ru.
7. Go to the first site and enter your reservation number and initials, click on the arrow.
8. Your ticket will appear at the bottom, where it says in green that it has been confirmed.
9. After registration, you must print your ticket. In this case, it is necessary to use special services that are designed to check booked flights.

Anyone who wishes to order tickets online needs to know that upon registration the following must be presented:

Visa reservation

Many visa centers require you to show air tickets to the country where a visa is required. Embassies have different approaches to visa application documents.

Typically, embassy officials request originals and copies of purchased tickets. But sometimes you can simply confirm that you have booked the tickets.

There are several ways to book or purchase tickets for a visa:

1. Book a ticket for a period from 1 to 10 days.
2. Purchase return tickets. You purchase tickets, which can then be returned, sometimes with the loss of part of the funds.
3. Purchase a ticket that includes a service fee for returning the ticket.
4. Buy an air ticket and at the same time travel insurance. The insurance will refund you the money you spent on preparing for the trip.

Instructions for obtaining visa tickets:

1. We go to the airline ticket booking website.
2. Enter the city of departure and arrival. We select the date of the flight and indicate the number of passengers.
3. Select a flight to book.
4. We register the email to which the reservation will be sent, passenger data and consent.
5. We place an order.
6. We go to the window with the reservation code. We copy it and leave the site.
7. We go to the Checkmytrip website. We create an account there and look for our tickets by reservation number and initials.

We save it in PDF format and print the reservation.

Existing risk of refusal for an Aeroflot flight

The EU visa code states that in order to assess the intention to leave the Schengen countries, you must provide a return ticket. Booking does not imply payment for tickets.

But the period of validity of the plane reservation is short in order to have time to obtain a visa. Different airlines hold reservations for different periods of time. For example, Aeroflot holds reservations for up to 7 days.

Theoretically, a visa center employee can check the presence of a reservation by number - contact the airline or go to an online resource.

If there is a large flow of applications, he will not do this. A tourist who confirms a reservation without paying is at risk.

If upon checking the documents it turns out that the order has been cancelled, entry will not be allowed. However, no one had a situation where a visa was denied due to a lost reservation.

There are many more free booking options with the hotel. You can book a place in the hotel for a long time, without paying money. The preliminary reservation is officially confirmed.

What do airlines offer?

Each airline has its own conditions for booking without payment, and there is no universal procedure.

For example, S7 Airlines offers to either purchase tickets at a standard fare or purchase additional insurance with the ticket, thanks to which the option of returning money due to a visa refusal begins to work.

KLM requests that you bring documents from the embassy certifying that the visa was refused. You will also have to confirm that the country of departure coincides with the country where the application was submitted.

UTair allows its customers to book tickets without payment, but for economy class. This does not apply to non-refundable tickets sold by the company. With any of these airlines you can book plane tickets online, without paying.

The second way is to use the services of special agencies that allow you to book tickets without payment from companies that do not initially provide this service.

It is rare that the booking period for private agencies is more than 3 days, most often it is 12 hours.

Is it possible to return a non-refundable ticket?

If you cancel before travel, many airlines give away part or the full price of the ticket. To use one of the methods, you must carefully study the return conditions.

The question of how to book tickets for a visa without redemption becomes especially relevant when receiving a document for multiple entry or in the case of floating travel dates.

Usually, there are two reasons for booking air tickets without payment:

• You don’t have a bank card at hand or you don’t have enough funds, but you want to secure a ticket at a low price.
• Air tickets are needed to apply for a visa, but there is no absolute certainty that the consulate will approve the application.

In these cases, there are two ways to book tickets without paying.

1. Booking on the airline website

Many airlines are sympathetic to the need for deferred payment when booking. For example, the largest European carrier Lufthansa provides two days to pay for your reservation. United Americans are ready to hold your reservation for a whole week, and Korean Air for up to ten days! It is important to remember that the company can unilaterally reduce the time required to pay for the reservation. They will immediately notify you of this by email or phone, so provide real information when booking. Be sure to study all the terms of deferred payment. Some airlines reserve the right to charge small fines if you fail to pay for your reservation on time.

2. Booking on the website of ticket agencies

This option is the most common, since the agency can provide a deferred payment service for tickets for those airlines that do not themselves have such an option. The agent.ru service is popular among experienced travelers, where you can book tickets without payment for a period of 12 to 72 hours. The time directly depends on the departure date. When booking tickets for the coming days, you should not hope that you will be given more than a day to pay. But when searching several months before departure, you can easily find booking options for several days.

If you need a paper copy to apply for a visa, booking verification services will help:

• checkmytrip.com
• viewtrip.com
• virtuallythere.com
• myairlines.ru

After making a reservation, enter your 6-digit PNR code on one of the services (should be sent to your email after booking) and the passenger’s last name in Latin. Afterwards you will see your reservation with the status “confirmed” and you will be able to print the document.

How to book a ticket without paying? Step-by-step instruction.

1. We go to the website Agent.ru
2. We choose “from” – “to”. We uncheck the “and back” box if we only need a one-way ticket. Select the departure date. Enter the number of passengers and click “Find flights”.
3. A window will open in which you will need to select a flight. You can book tickets without payment, so that the reservation lasts up to 10 days, with two airlines - Emirates and Qatar. The easiest way is to print the booking confirmation for Qatar flights, so scroll down the list until you see the Qatar ticket. We do not look at prices and flight duration, since we will not pay for or redeem this ticket anyway.
4. If you need a ticket to one of the European countries, then below is a list of airlines and the period during which companies hold an unpaid reservation:

• Aeroflot – 7 days
• AirBaltic – 3 days
• AirBerlin – 4 days
• Air Europa – 7 days
• AirFrance – 4 days
• Alitalia – 11 o'clock
• Austrian Airlines – 24 hours
• EuropeAir – 7 days
• Iberia – 1 day
• KLM – 3 days
• LOT – 3 days
• Lufthansa – 1 day
• SAS – 10 days
• Swiss airlines – 1 day
• TAP Portugal – 3 days
• Turkish Airlines – 3 days
• Ural Airlines – 3 days
• UIA (Ukraine International Airlines) – 10 days

1. Please note that this listing states that the reservation is valid UNTIL a certain number of days. In each specific case, booking tickets without payment may last a little less. Therefore, after you have booked your tickets, pay attention to the counter.
2. In the window that opens, fill in all the fields. Select “New user”, enter your email, come up with a password, enter your First Name, Last Name (in Latin letters as in the passport), gender, citizenship, series and passport number, passport expiration date, phone number, put a tick in the “I agree” field, Click on “Next: placing an order”.
3. A new window appears in which the order number and reservation code are written. Copy the received code.
4. We go to the website www.checkmytrip.com (you can try to make a reservation on the websites viewtrip.com and www.virtuallythere.com). Here you can check the status of your reservation and print out your reservation confirmation for the embassy. In the “Reservation number” column we enter the reservation number copied a step earlier on the Agent.ru website, in the “Last name” column we enter our last name in Latin as in the international passport, and then click on the arrow.
5. Our reservation details appear in the window. To save the receipt to your computer, you need to click on the “PDF” button; to print the confirmation, you need to click on the “Print” button
6. Print your confirmation receipt for presentation.

What to do if you can't find your reservation?

There are rare cases when none of the above sites have your reservation. There are several reasons for this:

• You have a 5-digit reservation number, but the sites listed above find reservations only using a 6-digit code. In this case, we need to go directly to the website of the airline that operates the flight you need and check your reservation on their website. To do this, you need to enter the reservation code and your last name, as in your passport.
• Your reservation has expired. Check the status of your reservation in your personal account.
• The program sometimes crashes. If your reservation is nowhere to be found, then most likely your order did not go through and you need to repeat the procedure.
• If the company canceled the reservation the next day, try writing to agent.ru support and clarifying the reasons for canceling the tickets.

What kind of reservation is suitable for the embassy?

If you are booking tickets to obtain Schengen, then you will need tickets whose reservation lasts for at least 7 days, or even 10 ideally. Tickets must be valid for as long as possible while your documents are being processed.

Some tourists have a question: is it possible to book tickets without paying for a visa? After all, when applying for a visa to the Schengen countries, the list of documents contains the item air tickets. The problem is completely solvable. You can not buy air tickets, but book them for a certain period of time, during which you will receive a response from the embassy on the grant (or refusal) of a visa. This method helps to avoid financial losses, since even a fully submitted package of required documents does not guarantee that a visa will be provided, and many airlines are not ready to refund the cost of an expensive ticket.

It is important to choose an airline with favorable conditions; some of them provide the opportunity to book a ticket without payment for 7 days, during which the consulate will probably have time to check the documentation and give a response to the visa applicant.

Booking air tickets without paying for a visa via the Internet, if you have already chosen an air carrier, will not take much time and effort. You can make a reservation using different options: on the airline’s website, online – purchasing and purchasing tickets at the airport.

The presence of air tickets in both directions of the trip in the package of papers for the consulate is a guarantee that the tourist intends to leave the country of interest to him, and also that his plans do not include transition to the status of an illegal migrant. Consulates will require round-trip air tickets from the Schengen visa applicant (except France). Due to the absurdity of the current situation, some Schengen countries have abolished the requirement to provide airline ticket reservations. At first, it was possible to obtain a Schengen visa without paying for tickets when traveling to Greece, and at the beginning of 2017, France joined it.

Many tourists are afraid to book tickets in advance, as there is a possibility that a visa may be denied. Some consulates allow unpaid ticket reservations to be submitted. There are practically no services that would allow you to book a ticket and keep the reservation unpaid, for example, for more than a week. On airline websites you can keep a reservation for up to a day, and for a small surcharge you can extend the reservation up to three days. However, this is clearly not enough, since it can take much more than three days from submitting documents to their consideration.

After this time, the consulate will decide to check the expired reservation, and, having discovered that it is invalid, they may refuse a visa, because it is impossible to prove that the reservation was valid at the time of submitting the documents.

There are specific ways to obtain air ticket reservations without paying for a visa. These include unpaid Aeroflot reservations, holding ticket reservations on the airline’s website for 2-3 days (or more, it’s different for everyone) and finally, purchasing a return ticket and canceling it after receiving a visa (financial losses are possible).

Risk of failure

According to the European Union visa code, to assess the intention to leave the Schengen countries, it is sufficient to provide a return ticket, a round trip ticket or a reservation for such tickets. Booking does not imply payment for a ticket. The validity period of your airline ticket reservation is not enough to get your visa in time.

For example, the Consulate General of Spain in Moscow makes a decision on granting a visa within 10 days. When the applicant provides a complete package of documents that satisfies the requirements of the Consulate, the decision-making period may be five working days.

The air ticket reservation must be valid for the entire period of consideration of the package of documents. Proof of airfare payment is not required when applying for a visa.

When submitting documents to the Italian visa center, you must present both paid air tickets (originals and photocopies) and confirmation of their reservation.

To find out whether a reservation is available, a visa center employee can use the online system or call a specific airline. But if there are a large number of applications, such requests are generally not carried out. According to numerous reviews from tourists, there have been no cases of visa refusal to Schengen countries due to lost reservations.

Ticket purchase and return

This method is the most reliable, but requires high costs. The ticket can be returned after receiving a visa. Sometimes it is possible to return the full cost of the ticket.

According to Article 108 of the Air Code of the Russian Federation, the passenger receives 100% of the paid carriage charge, with the exception of the actual expenses incurred by the carrier. In case the return is made less than a day before the flight, a penalty of up to 25% will be charged. After the passage of the non-refundable ticket law in 2014, airlines can sell up to 30% of tickets without the possibility of a refund.

However, these rules do not apply to foreign companies. It is recommended that you review refund penalties before purchasing tickets. In most cases, cheap air tickets cannot be returned, but business class tickets can. So, if you buy expensive, you have the opportunity to get your money back if your visa is refused.

If you decide to buy a return ticket, it is better to pay in cash, since the money will be transferred to the card over a longer period. To guarantee, it is advisable to purchase non-travel insurance, which will be valid in the event of a visa refusal. You can get insurance from the airline so that it works without a package tour.

On some sites, for a commission (9%) you can get back up to 90% of the ticket price. The non-refundable portion of the money remains in the service’s savings account for further purchases.

Some airlines provide a full refund if a visa is refused.

Booking air tickets without payment

When booking tickets without payment and further providing documents to the embassy, ​​all responsibility lies with the applicant. There is no 100% guarantee that the reservation will be kept.

One-day flights can be booked online without paying for a visa at the official office of the air carrier or by bank transfer.

It is important to know that a reservation for 7 or 10 days is suitable for the consulate (it does not make sense to take it per day). This is the necessary time during which the package of submitted documents will be considered.

You can make a reservation in two ways:

• On the airline's website. Some airlines allow you to book flights without paying. Such companies can provide from 2 to 10 days. For each airline, the deferred payment period depends on the fare and the specific destination. In general, an air ticket booked long before departure has a longer validity period than tickets booked closer to departure.
• In an online agency. At an air ticket sales agency, you can book air tickets without payment for different periods. The tourist books a ticket, and then checks that it appears as paid in special services. If necessary, the reservation can be printed and presented to the consulate.

A reminder may be sent by email indicating the airline’s intentions to unilaterally shorten the payment period for the order. To avoid such a situation, experienced tourists make an unpaid air ticket reservation as early as possible.

Choosing a portal for booking air tickets is very important:

• OneTwoTrip— provides the opportunity to extend your reservation for 7 days for 200 rubles;
• Agent.ru– you need to register on the website, after which you can use the services of airlines that hold the order for up to 10 days;
• Anywayanyday– The site requires registration, only recommended buyers can use privileges here. When choosing a cash payment method, you can extend your reservation up to 7 days;
• AirFrance— The portal provides the service Time to Think. The cost of the service is about 15 euros. Reservations are held for up to 7 days. Infants and first class passengers receive the service free of charge.

How to check an air ticket in the booking system

Bookings are processed through global distribution systems. The main ones are Amadeus, Galileo, Sarbre. All ticket offices should know them.

• Checkmytrip.сom – used to check reservations in the Amadeus system.
• Viewtrip.com – used to check reservations in the Galileo system.
• Virtuaiythere.com – used to check reservations in the Sarbre system.

What to do if the reservation does not go through?

In the event that a ticket reservation is not determined through Checkmytrip.com, you need to try to find a reservation through other sites. Sometimes a reservation is not processed due to a system failure. In this case, you should repeat the operation again.

Some tourists say they receive a 5-digit code instead of a 6-digit code. In this case, you need to go to the website of the airline where the tickets were booked and check the reservation there.

Confirmation of another mode of transport

You can submit documents to the consulate about the use of other means of transport (except for an airplane):

1. When traveling by car to the embassy, ​​you are provided with a free-form itinerary sheet (describing the travel plan for each date with hotels and cities), a vehicle registration certificate, Green Card insurance, and a driver’s license. You can attach your ferry ticket reservation.
2. Railway transport. Russian Railways refunds the full cost of a ticket for trains in the neighboring countries.
3. Combined option. A tourist can purchase a train ticket to a specific country, then continue traveling by plane to the final country. The train ticket is returned, the plane ticket is either expired, or reissued for a convenient date and direction.

What airlines say

Popular air carriers answer questions about the possibility of booking a ticket to obtain a visa without payment, the maximum booking period and the fee for returning a ticket as follows.

S7 Airlines

Does not provide reservations without payment lasting 10 days.

Offers:

• issue an air ticket using the Standard fare plan, which will allow you to issue a refund without deductions.
• purchase a ticket with additional Travel insurance, which covers the event of visa refusal.

This insurance policy is suitable for individual travel.

KLM

In case of visa refusal, the company fully refunds the cost of the ticket, subject to certain conditions:

• if the ticket was purchased at a KLM office or on the KLM.com website, or through the service on FB.
• if the country of destination of the ticket and the country to whose consulate the visa application was submitted are the same.
• in the case when the passenger provides a document confirming the visa refusal.
• if the tickets have not yet been used.

If a tourist purchases a ticket before obtaining a visa, he must ensure that the fare rules allow for changes. This information is available on the ticket search page - after round trip flights have been selected.

The company can create a reservation for a tourist, but it will be active for 3 days.

After receiving the visa, the applicant can buy any suitable tickets, since the reservation will already be cancelled.

Interesting video:

UTAIR

The company makes it possible to book tickets at any agency at an economy class fare, which has the longest lead time for issuing tickets. After your visa has been confirmed, you can buy tickets on the company’s website at the lowest available rate. Agency fees are not deducted.

If a ticket is returned due to a visa refusal, the refund is not considered forced. When purchasing a non-refundable ticket, the entire amount paid for the ticket is not refunded.

Aeroflot

On this issue, contact the Call Center operators and inform them that a reservation for the embassy is required.

Upon request, the Aeroflot Call Center can increase the visa reservation period from 2 to 7 days. Excludes promotional rates or if there are less than 7 days left before departure. You can also get a stamped reservation at the company’s office or ticket office.

Aeroflot airline's reservation system is based on a software product developed by the air carrier. You can book and pay for an air ticket online no later than 6 hours before the flight departure. .

The foreign passport data is entered as written in the foreign passport.

Booking tickets without paying for a visa is a convenient and proven method. It is important to choose the right airline, which will provide the opportunity to smoothly organize further visa processing upon receipt of a positive response to the request.

In the age of advanced communications, when many purchases are made via the Internet, the question arises: is it possible to purchase a real airline ticket without leaving home without paying a penny for it?

The answer in most cases, oddly enough, is positive. Why is there a need to book air tickets online without paying?

What motivates you to look for free ways to buy an air ticket?

If a person wants to buy a plane ticket, but does not plan to pay for it, there are usually good reasons for this:

1. The airline offers a good discount, but, as luck would have it, there was no card at hand for payment. If you have a card, then perhaps there are no funds on it at the moment or there are not enough funds.
2. No visa fee. According to the rules, to submit documents to the visa center, you must provide round-trip air tickets. However, there is no 100% guarantee of obtaining visa approval; the money spent on tickets may be lost.
3. A trip abroad is planned, but the exact date of return has not been chosen, because if you like it, there is an opportunity to stay.
4. When traveling there is a need to cross the borders of several states. The rules of some of them require the presentation of a return air ticket or a ticket to another country. But a reservation for such tickets is enough. Even if you plan to return by other means of transport, an air ticket is still required.

What to do in all such cases? There is a solution: book tickets with deferred payment.

How to fill out the reservation form?

To correctly complete the procedure for booking an electronic ticket, you need to go to the appropriate website, register, select the destination (country, city) and departure, determine the date of arrival and return (if planned).

Next, the airline is selected. You should not pay special attention to the cost of the ticket, since in principle payment is not expected. Then a form is filled out, where data on the passenger and his companions is entered.

After entering the required information, you need to go to the payment point. Then the site will issue a reservation number, and a special counter will appear that takes into account the reservation time and notifies about the end of this period.

How to make an unpaid purchase of an Airbus ticket

Of course, there are travel agencies and airlines that do not agree with free bookings. There are those that allow you to postpone payment only for an hour or no more than a day. This will not save you if you cannot yet collect the full amount for payment or if there is no money at all at the moment.

Companies that provide reservations for more than one day prefer to keep it for up to 2 - 4 days. Much less often, up to 7 and 10 days. Moreover, it is worth paying attention to the fact that in each specific case the period can be negotiated separately. And also do not lose sight of the fact that reservations are provided up to a certain time, and not inclusive!

Duration of e-ticket booking period for popular airlines:

Airline	Deadline BEFORE
KLM	24 hours
AlItalia	24 hours
SAS	2 days
Aeroflot	2 days
AirBaltic	3 days
AirBerlin	4 days
AirFrance	4 days
EuropeAir	7 days
UIA	10 days
Turkish Airlines	10 days
Lufthansa	10 days
Qatar	10 days

Preliminary preparation for reservation

In order not to lose money, time and nerves, and to get the result for which the booking was actually started, you need to assess the situation:

• When planning to carry out the procedure for obtaining a reservation, it is worth analyzing which air carriers offer a longer retention period.
• Calculate the time that affects the duration of maintaining the reservation, the maximum required for paperwork.
• Take into account the conditions for unilateral cancellation of reservations when demand increases.
• Clarify sanctions for refusal to pay for a reserved seat for a customer.

Recommendations for purchasing an air ticket with deferred payment

Free options

There are several ways to book air tickets without paying:

First: using airline websites. Airlines allow you to make a reservation and then transfer funds over periods of varying lengths. However, there is a nuance here: they can independently shorten the period for confirming a reservation by payment.

Usually a notification about this is sent to an email address or phone number, and therefore it is mandatory to indicate real contact contacts when booking. A printed booked ticket usually contains information that the reservation has not yet been paid, however, this circumstance does not interfere with visa processing.

It is important to familiarize yourself with the terms of deferred payment in advance. There are airlines that charge pennies and fines for bookings not paid within the specified period and for cancellations. For example, Lufthansa issues an invoice if a ticket has been booked, the reservation period is still valid, but it is no longer necessary and for this reason you have to cancel it.

The second way to book a plane ticket without paying involves doing it on the resources of those agencies that sell air seats. This is the most popular option. It is beneficial in that agencies can make it possible to book a ticket without paying even with those air carriers that do not provide such a service themselves. The most common solution is to decide on a suitable flight on the website agent.ru.

This is practically an online tourism agency that searches for air tickets based on a given request, without redirecting to airline websites. The nuance is that the reservation in this case is secured by the site itself, charging a commission depending on the cost of the ticket. Therefore, the price of a ticket purchased there will be higher, and you will not be able to save money.

But, if you don’t need the ticket itself, but only the fact of booking it, then this agency is the most suitable. From 3 to 10 days, depending on the airline's capabilities, this service allows you to maintain your reservation while it is necessary to complete administrative procedures. The booking period is closely related to the expected start date of the trip. Therefore, the closer it is, the shorter the reservation period.

Searching a few months before your trip will give you more options for booking length. Once the period expires, the reservation becomes inactive. It is recommended to cancel it when it is no longer needed, independently before the expiration of the term, in order to avoid the accrual of fines, etc.

The third method of booking air tickets without payment is suitable for those who have to some extent mastered the skill of reading English. The English-language resource gomosafer.com helps make booking air tickets without payment very simple:

• Searching and finding the departure direction.
• Reservation of a place.
• Confirmation by pressing the on hold button where payment is required.
• Completing the booking process.
• Ticket printing.
• Receiving a status confirming the reservation.

It is difficult to say exactly how long a reservation remains active. The experience of travelers confirms that such a reservation allows you to calmly go through all customs bureaucratic procedures.

Options with minimal investment

This recommendation on how to book air tickets is suitable if you still have a small amount in your account. Here you need to deposit three hundred rubles. A ticket to the desired destination is booked on the website euroavia.ru. When the booking form is completed, at the end, when choosing payment, it is noted that a booking confirmation is needed only for obtaining a visa. It is for this visa reservation support that you need to pay a fee. The reservation will be active within a week.

Despite the fact that this method involves depositing money, it has an advantage over free options. In this case, the reservation is guaranteed to be kept for a week. But the previous versions do not provide such a guarantee. Even if a pre-booking is made for a period of up to 10 days, the airline can unilaterally cancel an unpaid reservation and sell a ticket, citing high seasonal demand or the approaching day of departure.

The next option is for the case when it is absolutely necessary to have a long-term reservation. Here you will not be able to book the required air tickets online without paying, since we are talking about purchasing a ticket with the possibility of a refund after completing the necessary formalities. Airlines do not always provide the opportunity to return a ticket without losing money.

A minimum service fee is charged. The more expensive the ticket sales rate, the higher the fee. When a refund can be made in advance, there is a possibility of an almost 100% refund of the ticket price paid. The closer the departure date, the fewer such opportunities. Some companies immediately stipulate the conditions under which it is impossible to return a purchased ticket.

Most often these are economy class tickets. There are intermediary sites (for example, OneTwoTrip.com) that help compensate up to 90% of the cost of a ticket if you cancel it, even where a refund after purchasing a seat is almost impossible.

Another way to book a ticket without paying is to initially reserve the purchase of a seat with a reservation for a minimum period, indicating that payment will be made electronically. You won’t have to spend a large amount, because by checking the meter for the end of the payment period, you just need to buy an extension of your reservation on time for a purely symbolic amount. This can be done on sites where such a service is additionally provided.

Another way: if you have money, but it’s not enough to redeem your reservation, you can use a long-term reservation with a travel agency. This will cost a much smaller amount than the cost of the ticket.

One recommendation is to buy the cheapest air ticket. If your visa is refused, you don’t have the money to pay for insurance against visa refusal, or you simply can’t use it, you don’t have to fly anywhere and throw away your ticket. For European flights, low-cost companies often offer tickets with an affordable price of a few euros; losing such an amount is not too critical.

A creative version of how to book an air ticket without paying is to contact friends living in the area of ​​the planned departure to make a long-term reservation. You can pay them upon arrival by purchasing a ticket or giving them a desired souvenir that you brought for them.

Booking confirmation

If the reservation was needed for a visa center and it requires confirmation, then a paper copy of the documents is provided by the following reconciliation services: www.myairlines.ru, www.viewtrip.com, www.virtuallythere.com, www.checkmytrip.com.

The algorithm for obtaining documents is as follows:

1. Book air tickets on the resource online without paying.
2. Go to the verification service website.
3. Enter the 6-digit code (PNR), after booking it will be sent to your email address.
4. Fill out the form with the Latin surname of the person who is going to fly.

As soon as your reservation status is confirmed, you can safely make a printout. It puts a mark confirming the reservation. If there is a need to check for its activity, this can be done on the websites: checkmytrip.com, virtuallythere.com, myairlines.ru, viewtrip.com, entering the reservation, order, payment number and the customer’s last name or by email address, mobile number and etc.

As for the websites of airlines whose tickets are booked, there may not be such information about the availability of reservations. Instead, it is usually written that the ticket reservation is at the registration stage or something similar.

Video: how to book air tickets without paying?

What to do when it is impossible to track your reservation?

If for some reason the reservation is not activated or is not detected, for example, on the website www.checkmytrip.com, then you can try to make it on other resources. Any system can “freeze,” that is, fail. Don't despair, you need to try again.

Sometimes it comes instead of a 6-digit code - a 5-digit code (PNR). Then you should check your reservation on the website of the air carrier where the seats were reserved. If all else fails, it is better to duplicate your reservation with another airline.