Advice Needed - Return Flight to London

When you fly from Europe you need a return ticket to be able to board the plane to DR and to enter. You cannot fly on a one way ticket.
There are only 2 options for you.

Get a 3 month ticket, those that are not changable are usually a little less expensive, than those you can change dates on.

Or get on a charter, skip the included return and look for a flight of return ( by charter when you know when you will go back ) and pay extra for it.

But keep in mind charter airlines are not at all like scheduled ones and you may wait a very long time to find a seat or two vacant on a charter retruning to the UK (or anywhere else) and you may have a hard time even finding out how to buy the tickets if there is space. But a ticket from a scheduled airline who are more accomodating about 14+ days in country.

And it is true you cannot generally buy discount air tickets and not use one portion and expect to use the other - going out fine, but trying to go back, if you don't use it to get there they assume you didn't get there and the retrun voucher is likely worthless.

Daydream, I ran into similar problems recently trying to buy one way tickets from POP to London. It is definitely not possible to only use the return leg of a return ticket - you don't turn up for the outward journey your return is automatically cancelled.
I am coming out to POP in a couple of weeks with Thomas Cook, but won't be using the return flight, as me and hubby have to come back on Martinair via Amsterdam. Maybe that might be your best bet - one way to AMS [or Madrid, Paris, wherever] then Easyjet back to UK - not as low as ?250 but certainly not as high as ?800 either.

daydream said:

How did you book your tickets with Martinair?

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I actually had a real hard time booking them, but the problem was that I am in England and I wanted to buy one way tickets from DR to London - apparently it's a major security issue. I couldn't book on-line, and it took a lot of hard work [and gazillions of phone calls] to find an independent travel agent here in England who could do it for me. None of the big operators would even consider it, numerous independents got a price for me but then couldn't get the tickets. In the end I managed to find an agent in Newbury [I'm in Basingstoke] who has contacts at KLM - and my tickets actually say KLM but have the martinair flight number.

If you want the contact details for my agent let me know and I'll PM them to you.

I've sent you a PM with all the details. Good luck, keep us posted.

Charter...

My husband is shortly flying to the UK and has been told in the DR that he can purchase a ticket for a Thomson charter flight. As yet we have not decided what flight will be best but I will keep you posted as I learn more (I thought it was impossible to get charter DR to UK but now am being told its not!) Admittedly he does have a friend who works for Thomson.

Anyway watch this space x

Saskia said:

My husband is shortly flying to the UK and has been told in the DR that he can purchase a ticket for a Thomson charter flight. As yet we have not decided what flight will be best but I will keep you posted as I learn more (I thought it was impossible to get charter DR to UK but now am being told its not!) Admittedly he does have a friend who works for Thomson.

Anyway watch this space x

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I was told the exact opposite today!! Travelling to the UK shortly (or so I thought?!) and I'm also having a hard time finding a flight. I was told that if you don't have a European issued passport that they're not allowed to sell you tickets, I however have a commonwealth member passport (south african) and assumed that the UK being part of the commonwealth it wouldn't be a problem ... WRONG!! Any help on my best options would be much appreciated.

Stay well,
Amy

daydream said:

I will be travelling to Puerto Plata and staying for three months later this year.

Can anyone tell me the cheapset way to get home as it seems you can't buy a direct return ticket that spans more than 14 days. I was told to buy two return tickets and only use one leg of each ticket which works out fairly cheap.....however I have since been informed that if you don't use the outbound portion of the ticket that the airline automatically cancels the return portion. Hence......we will not be able to get back.

I have spoken to different people at Thomson and they tell me contradicting things.......one said that I may be able to buy a one way return ticket when I'm over there??

Has anyone else experienced such problems getting back to UK and if so, what's the best thing to do?

Other option is booking tickets via New York but these work out very expensive at over ?800. We can buy return tickets with Thomson for as little as ?250 each.......

Any help would be much appreciated.
Daydream.

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I think the best thing to do is to get a return ticket London-DR-London... do not use the return ticket to London and when you want to return to London get a one way ticket from DR costing around US$400. Just take care that you are not travelling during the peak summer months .. July - Sept maybe.
I am trying to get a one way ticket to Manchester right now with either Thomson, First Choice, Thomas Cook, Brittania, My Travel. I also have some contact numbers for some reps. Someone told me that I can just go to POP airport and if there is a seat available I would be able to pay and go ! but it seems this is not the case. Tickets have to be purchased through one of the companies just mentioned. Of course, another think is that you must have a British Passport to get a one way ticket there. Lets see what happens and I will post and let you know. Good Luck !

Hi i recently done this this is what happened-

I didnt make my return.I phoned Thomas cook in POP about 2 days before i wanted to come home ,they advised me they had no seats left but just turn up at he airport and go on standby.They said 99% of the time a seat will be become available but they could not guarantee.
So i went the airport on the sat at 2pm the flight was leaving at 5pm went to a Thomas cook rep who took my name and told me to go get a drink and they would come over and see me once everyone who had a ticket had checked in.

So i waited like 2 hours feeling really nervous as i had told my work i was ill but had gone to the Dominican Republic and knew if i didnt make this flight i would loose my job.Anyways about 4pm the Thomas cook rep came to find me and said yes they had one seat left phhhewww !! and would sell to me for RD 15600.So i payed boarded the flight and i am now back home.

Oh also had to promise the Thomas cook rep id bring him back T-bags on my next visit LOL !! so i will be doing this to keep him sweet because i am also going for 3 months at the beginning of April and and need to arrange a flight back again in the same way.I tend to think though that you can book seats if they have them available , i phoned Thomson in the DR before Thomas cook but i have to say they werent much help and just said "no the flight is full" were as Thomas cook were like "the flight is full but just come down and we can help" at the end of the day the airlines dont want to return an empty aeroplane they want to fill all the seats possible.If they have seats available they will sell you a ticket.However i think mostly the flights are full.

I like the bit about the tea bags - let's make a list of alternative suggestions:

M&S undies
Marmite (but of course...)
Branston pickle
Birdseye custard

ummm cadburys choclate...

Yup - it's easy to do if you hold a passport of a country that is part of the European Union. Apparently, the Thomas Cook reps here are not allowed to sell you a ticket unless you have an EU member passport. This applies to the DR only.

My easiest option is going to be to fly to Barbados, then to the UK ... plenty of cheap flights between the two and the charter companies in Barbados do not have the restrictions that the companies here have. So, Barbados here I come!!:bunny:

Stay well,
Amy

Expensive.....

blondytomato said:

Hi i recently done this this is what happened-

I didnt make my return.I phoned Thomas cook in POP about 2 days before i wanted to come home ,they advised me they had no seats left but just turn up at he airport and go on standby.They said 99% of the time a seat will be become available but they could not guarantee.
So i went the airport on the sat at 2pm the flight was leaving at 5pm went to a Thomas cook rep who took my name and told me to go get a drink and they would come over and see me once everyone who had a ticket had checked in.

So i waited like 2 hours feeling really nervous as i had told my work i was ill but had gone to the Dominican Republic and knew if i didnt make this flight i would loose my job.Anyways about 4pm the Thomas cook rep came to find me and said yes they had one seat left phhhewww !! and would sell to me for RD 15600.So i payed boarded the flight and i am now back home.

Oh.....

RD 15600 this seems expensive? Thats around ?300 uk money - on some web sites travel is ?99 each way? Admitedly the dates are ltd - but....

Thats the biggest problem for me - ?300 each way flight per person or - ?600 AI for two weeks in a 4* on the beach. I would love to try something different but the "deal prices" are so good compaird to flight only![/I]

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In the past I have purchased a one way ticket from one of the charter companies for 250 sterling. All I need was a UK passport and proof that I had travelled to the DR on a charter within the last year. I went to the office in Puerto Plata and they gave me the ticket. The only issue I had was that I couldn't get the ticket until a few days before as they had to wait to check for availability.

Now, this was last year so maybe things have changed.

Nikki Simon said:

In the past I have purchased a one way ticket from one of the charter companies for 250 sterling. All I need was a UK passport and proof that I had travelled to the DR on a charter within the last year. I went to the office in Puerto Plata and they gave me the ticket. The only issue I had was that I couldn't get the ticket until a few days before as they had to wait to check for availability.

Now, this was last year so maybe things have changed.

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Updated info is that you have to prove you had travelled to the DR on a charter within the last 6 weeks.

Stay well,
Amy