air line ticket

I have lived here just over a year & each time I fly to Panama, I am asked for proof of a ticket going back to the U.S.  I applied for residency in Oct. 2010 and like most things here, it takes forever.  So, I leave every 90 days with my 2 kids (ages 2 & 4) out of the country for a min. of 4 days.  We just got back from Los Angeles a couple weeks ago and forgot to book a return flight. They made a HUGE stink about it at the airport and I didn't think they were going to let us fly back to Panama.  After talking to supervisors, etc. they determined they would let us fly because they could see in my passport the stamp when I applied for residency.  If it weren't for that, they were not going to let me fly! (Copa airlines).  I have also been stopped going through Immigration at the PTY airport and asked to show proof of a return air ticket.  Good luck!  Please feel free to reach out if you have any other questions.
Cher

Thank you so much for the information. That clears up a lot of questions. I guess I need to have a return ticket with a date of less than 3 months. Thanks again. Ron

Hey Ron -
You can go anywhere - it doesn't have to be where you came from just as long as you leave the country for a minimum of 72 hrs. You can go to Costa Rica,Puerto Rico or other places in the Caribbean since they are so close. Florida is another nice option.

Thanks that makes sense. Ron

I don't know if I got lucky, but when I moved to Panama all I had booked was a 1 way ticket through American Airlines. When the ticket agent asked how long I was staying in the country and where, I told her with my in-laws for 6 months. I got the stamp without the stink! We didn't have the same luck when taking the bus to costa rica for our visa renewal vacation. We had to buy 2 one way bus tickets before being accepted into the country. The good thing was the bus company let us the ticket as redeemable for anywhere the bus line operates valid for 1 year. We ended up using the tickets on our next trip out and having our backup pair ready for the entry agent.

I guess I'm a little late on this post, but be careful. A co-worker of mine had problems when we flew from Panama to Orlando recently for a work related trip. She left Panama with a roundtrip ticket to Orlando and back to Panama. When we were trying to leave Orlando they wouldn't accept her ticket back to Panama because she had no proof that she was planning to leave Panama. She had one of the bus tickets that MeanderingMiss mentioned, but they wanted to see a plane ticket.

I was told their reason for doing this is: If, say, Copa Airlines allows you to fly to Panama on a one-way ticket. If you get stopped by immigrations in Panama and can't prove that you have a return ticket, it becomes the responsibility of the airline that allowed you to fly to get you out of the country.

In the end, my co-worker called our boss who jumped online and purchased a ticket to our next work related destination, which she was able to show at the airport to get her back to Panama. It was a pain. When I moved I just purchased a round-trip ticket and tossed the return ticket in the trash. Lost money, but I had no other choice.

The ticket agent also mentioned one thing that I was a little bit confused about. I didn't pay too much attention to it because the cost was like a thousand dollars. She said something about the fact that you could buy a roundtrip ticket where the return portion can be changed whenever you want. It's some sort of indefinite ticket or something like that. It's expensive, but she said that once you arrive in Panama you could call and cancel the return portion and be refunded your money...something like that. Sorry I can't be more specific on it.

Your best option is to just buy a round-trip ticket.

Be careful....You need to carry a few credit cards..and even so, carry some cash...If you r lucky, u won't have any problems///if you're not....straight to jail..r