Booking Domestic Flights in China as a Foreigner
Where to book, which airlines are which, the delay problem nobody warns you about, and the airport-name trap that costs people their flight.
Domestic flying in China is cheap, frequent and unreliable in a specific way that shapes how you should plan around it.
The network is vast — every provincial capital and a great many secondary cities, with dozens of daily frequencies on the trunk routes. Fares are low. Booking with a foreign passport works.
And Chinese domestic aviation has a persistent delay problem, driven by airspace constraints and weather, that is materially worse than what most travellers are used to. That does not mean avoid flying. It means never schedule a domestic flight as the last link before something you cannot miss.
Where to book
Trip.com is the practical default for a foreign visitor. Full English, foreign cards accepted, the same inventory as the Chinese platforms, and customer service that can telephone an airline in Chinese when something goes wrong. See the platforms comparison — the same logic applies.
Airline websites direct. Air China, China Eastern, China Southern and the others all have English sites that accept foreign cards. Sometimes marginally cheaper, and better if you need to change something.
Chinese platforms — Ctrip's Chinese app, Qunar, Fliggy — have the deepest inventory and the lowest prices, in Chinese, with payment flows built around Chinese accounts. Worth it for a long stay, not for a first trip.
International aggregators — Skyscanner, Google Flights — are good for comparing and often send you to a reseller. Book on Trip.com or direct rather than through an unfamiliar third party.
Booking with a passport
Real-name ticketing applies. The passport you book with is the passport you check in with. Enter the number exactly as printed, with no spaces and no added country code, and the name exactly as it appears in the machine-readable zone.
A mismatch is not fixable at the airport. It is a re-booking.
Each passenger is booked individually, children included.
You cannot use the automated check-in kiosks with a foreign passport at many airports — they are built around Chinese ID cards. Go to the counter. Allow the extra time.
The airlines
The big three: Air China (国航), China Eastern (东航), China Southern (南航). All are full-service, with checked baggage included, meals on longer sectors, and reasonable reliability by Chinese standards.
Hainan Airlines (海航) has a good reputation for service and is often the pick where it flies your route.
Xiamen Air, Shenzhen Airlines, Sichuan Airlines, Shandong Airlines and others are regional full-service carriers, generally fine.
Spring Airlines (春秋) and China United are the low-cost carriers — cheaper, tighter baggage rules, more restrictive on changes. Read the baggage allowance before booking; the fare difference frequently disappears once you add a case.
The airport trap
This is where people actually lose money.
Several Chinese cities have two airports a long way apart, and the English names are not always distinguishing.
Beijing — Capital (PEK) in the northeast, Daxing (PKX) in the south, roughly 80 km apart with no quick link. Shanghai — Pudong (PVG) east, Hongqiao (SHA) west, about 50 km apart. Chengdu — Tianfu (TFU) south, Shuangliu (CTU) closer in. Shanghai and Beijing both split airlines across their two airports, sometimes within the same alliance.
Check the three-letter code on every booking, not the city name. If you are connecting between two airports in the same city on separate tickets, allow four hours minimum and expect it to be unpleasant.
See the airport transfer guide.
Delays
The part to plan around.
Delays are common and can be long. Air traffic flow management, weather, and military airspace usage all contribute. Summer thunderstorm season — roughly June to August — is the worst period, and afternoon and evening departures are more exposed than morning ones.
What to do about it:
Fly in the morning. The first departures of the day are the most likely to leave on time, because delays accumulate through the day.
Never fly domestically on the same day as an international departure. This is the single most important rule on this page. If you must, fly the morning before and stay near the departure airport.
Never plan a domestic flight as the last leg into a fixed commitment — a train you have booked, a tour departure, a timed attraction slot.
Prefer high-speed rail where the journey is under about five hours. Rail in China runs to time to a degree that domestic aviation does not. See the comparison guide.
Check your insurance for delay and missed-connection cover. See the insurance guide.
When it happens: airlines communicate through SMS and their apps, in Chinese. Trip.com bookings get English notifications, which is another argument for booking there. Compensation practice for domestic delays is inconsistent and generally involves rebooking rather than cash.
Baggage
Full-service carriers typically include a checked allowance in economy — commonly 20 kg — plus a cabin bag. Verify for your fare class.
Low-cost carriers charge for checked bags and enforce cabin limits.
Power banks are the thing that catches people out. Chinese aviation rules restrict lithium batteries: power banks must go in cabin baggage, never checked, and there are capacity limits — broadly, up to 100 Wh is fine, 100–160 Wh needs airline approval, and above that is prohibited. Power banks without clear capacity markings or certification labelling have been refused. Check your power bank has a legible rating printed on it before you fly.
Liquids follow the usual international limits on international sectors, with domestic rules applied at security in a similar way.
Restricted items are enforced strictly and include a longer list than you may expect. See the customs guide for what can enter the country, and check the airline for what can board.
At the airport
Arrive two hours before a domestic departure. Chinese airport security is thorough and the queues are real.
Go to the check-in counter, not a kiosk, with a foreign passport.
Security screening includes a physical pat-down as standard, often in a screened area, and a separate check of electronics. Take laptops and tablets out.
Boarding is by gate announcement, in Chinese and English at major airports and in Chinese only at some smaller ones. Watch the board rather than listening.
Gate changes are frequent. Check the board again after you have sat down.
Terminal transfers at PEK, PVG and Guangzhou can involve a train and twenty minutes. Read your boarding pass.
When flying is the right call
Long distances where rail is over about eight hours — Beijing to Kunming, Shanghai to Chengdu, anywhere to Xinjiang or Hainan.
Reaching places with no rail — Shangri-La, Jiuzhaigou, Dunhuang's onward connections, Kashgar.
Open-jaw itineraries where a return leg would waste a day.
Island destinations. Hainan is reachable by rail via a train ferry and it is not the sensible option.
When it is not
Anything under five hours by high-speed rail. Beijing–Xi'an, Beijing–Shanghai, Shanghai–Xi'an, Chengdu–Chongqing, Guangzhou–Shenzhen. On these routes rail wins on total door-to-door time, reliability and comfort.
Short hops where the airport transfer at both ends exceeds the flight time, which is a surprising number of routes.
Fly or take the train: common routes
Door to door, accounting for airport transfers and realistic delay allowance.
| Route | Rail | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Beijing–Shanghai | ~4.5 h | Train, clearly |
| Beijing–Xi'an | ~4.5–6 h | Train |
| Xi'an–Chengdu | ~3–4.5 h | Train |
| Chengdu–Chongqing | ~1–1.5 h | Train |
| Guangzhou–Shenzhen | ~35 min | Train |
| Shanghai–Xi'an | ~6 h | Train, marginally |
| Beijing–Guangzhou | ~8 h | Either; train if you value reliability |
| Chengdu–Shanghai | ~10–11 h | Fly |
| Beijing–Kunming | very long | Fly |
| Anywhere–Xinjiang or Tibet | very long | Fly, or take the sleeper as an experience |
| Anywhere–Hainan | ferry-linked | Fly |
| Chengdu–Jiuzhaigou | no rail | Fly |
| Lijiang–Shangri-La | no rail | Road |
The five-hour rule. Under five hours by high-speed rail, take the train. Over eight, fly. Between the two, decide on price and on how much a delay would cost you.
Official sources
- Civil Aviation Administration of China: http://www.caac.gov.cn/en/
- Air China: https://www.airchina.com/
- China Eastern: https://us.ceair.com/
- China Southern: https://global.csair.com/
Baggage rules, battery restrictions and airport assignments change. Confirm with the airline before flying.
Last reviewed: 30 July 2026.