How much does a dummy ticket cost? Every option priced, from airline holds to refundable fares

A dummy ticket from a reputable online service costs between USD 10 and 25 per passenger, which is roughly LKR 3,000 to 7,500 at current rates, and ours is LKR 5,490 (about $18). Airline holds can be free, refundable fares cost the full airfare up front, and the free generators that appear at the top of a search cost nothing because they produce nothing that can be checked.

The spread exists because the phrase dummy ticket covers several different things: a seat the airline holds for you for a day, a reservation an agent keeps live for two weeks, a purchased ticket you plan to refund, and a PDF from a template. They cost different amounts because they are different products, and the guide to what a dummy ticket is explains why only some of them qualify as one.

Only four rows in that table produce a reservation an officer can open. The two cheapest, the generator and the budget PDF, are cheap because nothing is being held. The most expensive, the refundable fare, is expensive because everything is.

The airline hold deserves a closer look because it is genuinely free on some carriers and genuinely useful for a short window. Several full-service airlines offer a hold-my-fare option during booking, sometimes free and sometimes for a fee credited against the fare. The hold is real and resolves at once. It also ends within a few days, usually before a visa centre has opened the envelope, which is why it suits a check-in tomorrow rather than an appointment next week. The comparison of every way to reserve without paying goes through each method in turn.

A service charging USD 15 to 20 per passenger is not selling a PDF. The fee is spread across the things that make the reference resolve on the day it matters.

• A real PNR on a real airline. The reservation is created through a booking system such as Amadeus or Sabre, or on the airline directly, in your names and on your dates, and it opens under “Manage my booking”.
• A hold that covers the submission date. How long a hold lasts is set by fare rules, and keeping one live for a week or two takes an agent who knows which fares hold longest and who watches the expiry.
• Reissues. Appointments move and visa centre slots open late, so the ticket is reissued for the new date. Ours includes up to two free date or route changes within 30 days.
• Support when it is queried. Someone answers when a reference does not load or a consulate asks a question, during the hours that visa centres are open.
• Not paying the airline. The fee is small precisely because no fare is paid. That is the gap between LKR 5,490 and the several hundred thousand rupees a Colombo to Europe fare would tie up.

Everything on that list costs somebody time, which is why the honest price floor sits at around USD 10. Below that, at least one item has been dropped, and it is usually the first one.

A dummy ticket advertised at Rs 350 or two dollars, delivered instantly at any hour, usually means one of three things.

1. A template PDF. Nothing is booked and the reference belongs to nobody. It fails at the first “Manage my booking” check.
2. A screenshot of a hold. The seller starts a genuine airline booking, captures the page before the payment step and abandons it. The reference is real for minutes.
3. A hold nobody is watching. A real reservation that lapses in a day or two, usually before the appointment, from a seller who cannot be reached to reissue it.

The cost of any of these is not the few hundred rupees. An application containing a document that fails verification is treated as deception rather than as an incomplete file, and the guide to free and fake ticket risks sets out the consequences. Judge a seller by what it says about verification, expiry and reissues rather than by the number on the button; the checklist for choosing a genuine dummy ticket website lists the questions to ask before paying.

Every price is per passenger, shown in LKR with a USD approximation, and the same whichever country you apply from.

There is no extra charge for a return leg over a one-way, for choosing an airline where the route allows it, or for the first two changes. Payment is asked for only after the itinerary has been confirmed with you on WhatsApp or email: bank transfer or card in LKR inside Sri Lanka, PayPal or Wise in USD from anywhere else. No card details are entered on the website. The full list is on the pricing page.

The honest ways to spend less are about ordering the right thing, not about finding a cheaper seller.

• Order what the checklist asks for. If it says flight itinerary, one ticket. If it says flight and accommodation, the bundle. Do not add a hotel booking to a file that did not ask for one.
• Choose a return unless you are relocating. One-way and return cost the same, and consulates expect to see you leaving. A one-way reservation on a tourist file invites a question without saving anything. The round trip versus one-way guide covers the exceptions.
• Bundle when both are needed. Flight and hotel together at LKR 8,990 saves LKR 1,990 (about $6) against the two documents ordered separately, and the dates are matched for you.
• Order a day early. Standard delivery is one to six hours in support hours. The urgent fee exists for appointments this afternoon, not for anyone who orders the day before.
• Keep the itinerary simple. Two sectors are included. A four-sector multi-city route costs LKR 1,000 more and rarely helps a file that a plain return would serve.
• Use the free changes. When the appointment moves, message with your reference rather than ordering again.

And when deciding between the options in the table rather than between sellers, let the date of the check decide.

• Visa appointment in a week or more: an online service or agent reservation timed to the appointment.
• Check-in or immigration check within 48 hours: an airline hold if the carrier offers one, otherwise a reservation issued the day before you fly.
• You will fly those exact dates whatever happens: a refundable fare, and the refundable versus dummy ticket guide explains the refund terms to read first.
• Any file at all: never a generator.

If the price on this page is the one you need, send the request form with the names as printed in the passport, the route and the dates. We confirm the itinerary before asking for payment, and the PDF with the PNR and its expiry usually arrives within one to six hours.