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I booked a flight reservation with a reputable travel agency. My destinations are Paris, Pisa, Milan and then Zurich. I wonder if they really verify every applicant's flight reservation?

My appointment is on June 13 and I checked with VFS (third party provider) that minimum processing time is 15 days (which is quite long for me. It should be 3 to 5 days based on other sites I'm reading).

I booked the reservation on May 29 and travel agency said it is valid for 3 weeks, so until June 19.

I am just worried if ever the consulate really verifies my reservation after June 19 that has been expired, might cause an issue?

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    Assume they will. You could mention the dates that the reservation is valid for.
    – hojusaram
    Commented Jun 7, 2019 at 13:14
  • @Liz any updates? How did it go?
    – Mark Mayo
    Commented Jul 22, 2019 at 23:11

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Here you can enter your country and purpose of visit and it will tell you the required documentation.

I have had 3 Schengen visas from the Netherlands and Germany recently. They generally just want to see the dates of your travel, I never actually bought the ticket. You can reserve the tickets for a few days for a few euros I suppose. However be sure to check with your country, I applied from Turkey.

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My experience has been that it's better to book actual flights (since they explicitly mention it in the paperwork they request). So far I've applied to Italy, Switzerland and Germany. Each had varying levels of how strict they were with documentation checks.

You can book cancellable tickets, and later cancel them and rebook a cheaper flight. There are serives online that will give you an verifiable itinerary like https://www.flightreservationforvisa.com/feature/valid-flight-reservation/ -- but YMMW. I personally like to just book the tickets and get a refund later.

Btw... Italy also asks to show internal travel tickets, so I would usually book a flixbus.

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Visa is not a free pass card.

I think (but am not sure) they will check that you can afford the ticket (you can always get refund) and plausible travel. Consulate known a lot better what usually the local citizen want to visit (and in which deep).

But you still have to enter to the country. They could verify that the purpose of travel it is the same as in the visa.

It is difficult to generalize. If you think you have not many possibility to get the visa, and that is true, (maybe because few red flags) there are more detailed check on both places.

If it is your dreamed travel, and you really didn't plan from beginning, it is a red flag (trafficking, or other reasons?). OTOH if you got a promotion/inheritance (or thousand other reasons), it is ok to have last minute flight, and hoping for the better. As you see, there is so many reasons on both ways. We do not know your specific case, and we are also not trained by Schengen authorities. Personally I think there should be no problems.

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  • My only worry is that I booked flight reservation a week and a half earlier before the appointment date which only have about 4 days leeway to verify by consul befor it will expire. It would have been ok if visa processing is 5 days but 15 days and that's minimum is too long. I just dont want the consul to think that my flight reservation is not valid. Anyway, i always include my bank statements to prove that I have financial means and I will go as a visitor.
    – Liz
    Commented Jun 7, 2019 at 15:30
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    @Liz How does a booked and paid-for reservation expire?
    – Traveller
    Commented Jun 14, 2019 at 10:06
  • @Traveller nowhere does it say that the reservation was paid for.
    – phoog
    Commented Jul 19, 2019 at 2:50

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