Is it safe to buy fake flight tickets?

Flight tickets are an essential document for visa application submission. However flight tickets are often most expensive part of travel and loss is huge if visa is rejected. There are many websites that sell genuine looking fake tickets for a small fee- like 5$. Is it safe to buy such fake tickets?

Honest answer is NO. Following are the reasons not to go for fake flight tickets

• You may be caught. Embassy officials can detect if the ticket is genuine or fake. They can check with airline, they can use other means to figure out if you are cheating. If they catch you for falsification, your visa will be rejected and you could be banned from applying again.
• Flight schedules change, flights get cancelled- your fake ticket will not automatically update. 

How to check if a ticket is genuine?

Format with which the ticket is printed doesn't matter. A genuine ticket should meet following criteria

• It is possible to retrieve the ticket using PNR and surname on airline website.
• Flight date & time is in sync with schedule on the website 

Best way to get flight tickets for visa

• Honesty is best policy. If you are fully committed to travel, buy genuine ticket, explain with a cover letter on your need for travel and hope for the best.
• You can buy a slightly flexible ticket from airline website- it may cost a bit more but will get you a large portion of your money back in case your visa is rejected and you've to cancel your ticket.
• Fly to neighboring country- Like you have Canada visa and are applying for US visa- if you don't want to spend lots of money buying India- US ticket, plan such that you visit Canada and visit USA from Canada- this way you'll be risking a cheaper Canada-USA flight ticket, than more expensive India-USA ticket.
• Speak to your travel agent and see what options he has- travel agents will have more flexible cancellation terms with airline and may get you a genuine ticket with better cancellation terms.