Do I Really Need to Show Confirmed Hotel Bookings and Flight Reservations for Visa?

 

Now, this is a bit tricky.

Though they mention on their websites, not to book the confirmed flight tickets but ask for the confirmation proof.

To get a Schengen visa, it is mandatory to show confirmed flight tickets and accommodation bookings for your entire duration of travel and stay in the Schengen region.

The safest option is to book fully refundable flights on your credit card and cancel to rebook the cheaper flights once you get your visa.

Fully refundable flights, of course, are way more expensive than their non-refundable counterparts but keep you safe from any losses and then no one can question its authenticity.

The ticket hold option for a free or minimal fee or using award miles by airline companies can be used.

But they can hold tickets minimum for a day and maximum for a week. So, it’s quite risky if your visa processing takes more than a week’s time.

Which option did we choose?

We paid a little amount of money to a travel agent and got our flight or travel itinerary.

Flight itinerary is like a detailed plan of the flights to the Schengen area.

The document shows the chosen airline with a flight name, your name, a valid flight reservation number or booking ID, arrival and departure date and airport codes, as well as the price.

There are a couple of online visas booking sites too that provide flight and hotel itinerary for a little amount of service fee.

You can go ahead with the same flights once you get the visa and your money is adjusted in the total flight amount or you can plan to book different flights. Here, the loss is minimal.