Where in the World?

We tried to make our way from Montréal to San José on Sunday, January 10, 2010. We took a flight from Montréal to Fort Lauderdale, Florida first thing in the morning (we were at the airport at 4:00am) and then had to deal with the nightmare of the heightened security at the airport. We were already exhausted when we arrived at the American Airlines counter in Fort Lauderdale for baggage drop-off with our boarding passes in hand to continue to San José. Unfortunately, we were denied boarding due to the fact that we did not have an onward ticket to prove that we would be leaving Costa Rica within 90 days (we only had a one-way ticket). After the shock wore off, we quickly organized a one-day rental car and overnight in a cheap hotel, and put our thinking caps on. So what do you do if you are a young family of 5 stuck in Southern Florida? You head to Arizona, of course. ^_^

We are in Scottsdale, Arizona for the week and plan to be back in Costa Rica next week.

An aside

Since July, 2009, I have flown to San José through Toronto, Newark, Fort Lauderdale, and Charlotte, and I have never been asked to show a return ticket before boarding the plane. Plus, they have never asked for an onward ticket when going through customs in Costa Rica. In addition, I could only find one page on any official government site on the Internet that mentions this being a requirement and it is on the site for the Costa Rican Embassy in Washington, DC (being Canadian, this is not a site that I would visit). So, is this a restriction that is applicable to US citizens only? Or, does it apply to everybody who passes through the United States to get to Costa Rica?