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I'm a travel newbie but I do want to travel to a lot of places.
It seems that I could book flights to where ever I want to go, but some countries have visa requirements.
What happens if you do get a flight, arrive at the destination, and then realize that there's a visa requirement that you don't have?
In general, the airline won't let you get on the plane. If you are refused entry to a country upon arrival, it is the airline's responsibility to return you to your place of origin, so they have an interest in confirming that you hold the correct visa for your destination (if required).
Airlines frequently use a system called Timatic for this:
IATA Timatic is the industry standard used by airlines and travel agents to verify passengers travel document requirements for their destination and any transit points. Airlines use this information to ensure their customers are compliant with border control rules and regulations. Timatic delivers personalized information based on the passenger's destination, transit points, nationality, travel document, residence country etc.
It is your responsibility to make sure you have the required visa for your destination. The airline is unlikely to offer you a refund if you show up for departure with no visa.
To add to Greg's correct answer about boarding a flight without a visa, the airline won't care if you have a visa when booking the flight.
They will probably remind you to get one before departure, but on booking you don't usually have to produce a visa or even passport. Not surprising as you can usually book a flight far in advance, and getting a new passport or visa issued in between booking and travel is not at all uncommon/
And then there's the visa on arrival procedures for some countries. Airlines will then just check whether you have the required documents needed to get such a visa issued. Nothing more they can do...
This check is made at origin boarding point itself, and then verified at destination point. At time of booking VISA is not considered as a requirement.
There could be an issue if the country you land in transit has you move out of airport to a different airport (be it even in same city), and that's when you would need to have a transit visa. As long as you stay within the departure gates this issue should not arise.
I actually could not board my plane because I did not apply for a visa for when travelling to Thailand. The countries that I had been previously usually were either my home country or countries that just automatically gave visa on arrival so it did not occur to me to apply for the visa. There are some countries that can apply on arrival in Thailand but some need to apply at the country of residence. I was in the latter one and I could not apply for a visa because I was transiting in a country. Since it was a short trip I just stayed there and spent my time surrounding myself with food and met people whom I wouldn't have had I left for the trip with my friends. A valuable lesson learnt....now the first thing that I check is the visa for the country that I want to travel to.
