Entering Schengen (Spain via Paris) on a one-way ticket

Entry at CDG isn’t your only concern—that’s probably the lesser consent, really. When I’ve flown on one-way tickets the I’ve been asked for proof of onward travel whale checking in for my outbound flight. (Don’t know how common that is, but it’s happened to me a couple times over the past couple years.)

I've traveled to Europe on one-way tickets three times since 2015--most recently this year. On those occasions I didn't know my final destination until past the midpoint of my trip. No one seemed to care, but I never landed at CDG, and I'm now 71 years old, so probably not the demographic most prone to overstays.

I saw one Immigration official at an airport mid-trip paging through my passport, probably looking for the inbound Schengen stamp, so it was useful to know what page it was on. Another official definitely looked a bit concerned on around Day 100 until I pointed out I'd spent 3 weeks in Ukraine. Obviously, neither of those incidents occurred upon my arrival in Europe.

I travel with a fistful of credit and debit cards, and I guess I could sign into an online account or two to prove assets, but I've never contemplated what would happen if someone cared about my lack of a return ticket.

I think any ticket out of the Schengen area would probably be all you need, but if the very slight risk of an issue makes you nervous, you could buy a fully refundable ticket back to the US and cancel it later. Turkish Airways recently had regular September/October one-way fares from Istanbul to Washington Dulles for under $700. I don't know how much extra a fully-refundable ticket would cost.

In the past 10 years of flying back & forth a few times a year or more between SFO to ARN, I've been asked only once for proof of any onward flight out of Schengen, and it was in SFO. (not by immigration in Schengen.) I showed a link on a 3-rd party app & was let on the flight. In the past 2 years, now that I'm a resident, all my flights originate out of ARN but no one has noticed. Good luck!

Thanks for the replies! I’m in Spain now and can report that when I checked in for my flight, I had to say (on the Delta app) when I planned to leave. I left it blank and that did not work! So I just put in the date I expect to leave the Schengen and that is all I needed to do. Delta was happy.

Interestingly, at CDG passport control, they did not stamp my passport. I thought that was odd and, before I left the area, mentioned it to a security person. He took me back and asked the booth personnel to stamp it for me. No sense having my status questioned later … but I wonder how many people get through without a stamp, intentionally or unknowingly. Then again, with the chip-enabled passport, I guess the entry stamp is more of a formality these days.

Glad all went well for Julie

Nov/Dec 2021 when my mother & traveled to France the CDG Passport Agent asked us about our visit when he took our passports. We told him we were here to visit the Christmas Markets in Strasbourg, Colmar and Paris & see my niece. When we departed out of CDG to return home, the agent could not find my mother's entry stamp in her passport and wondered how she got in. Looking in mine, he found two entry stamps. The agent just laughed.

Enjoy your trip.