How to Book Flights in China: E-Tickets, Fees and Refund Rules in 2026

Booking a flight in China is completely paperless. You order and pay on your phone, receive a confirmation by email or text, and then walk to the airport with nothing but your passport. There is no paper ticket to collect and nothing to print. First-time visitors often stumble on exactly this point, expecting a physical "ticket" at check-in when the passport itself is the ticket.

This guide walks through the whole chain: how an e-ticket actually works, what changed for expense receipts in 2026, whether a foreign passport is accepted on domestic routes, what the extra charges in the fare are, how refunds and changes are priced, and the five mistakes to avoid.

1. An e-ticket means your passport is the ticket

An e-ticket is an electronic record held in the airline's system, containing the flight details and the passenger's information. Booking, payment, check-in and boarding all happen online, and you hold no paper document at all.

• After purchase: you receive a confirmation email or text with an order number and the flight details. That is your ticket.
• At the airport: you use a valid ID, which for an international traveller means your passport, at a check-in counter to obtain a boarding pass.
• At boarding: you show the boarding pass and your ID, clear security and board.

A critical rule: the same document must be used to buy the ticket, check in, clear security and board. The name spelling and passport number on the booking must match the document exactly. A missing middle name or a surname written in the wrong order is enough to be stopped at the gate. If your name contains a hyphen or a space, verify it letter by letter right after ordering.

2. What changed in 2026: the paper itinerary is retired

This is the area that has shifted most in the past two years, and many travellers are still following the old routine.

• Under a joint announcement by the State Taxation Administration, the Ministry of Finance and the Civil Aviation Administration of China (Announcement No. 9 of 2024), from 1 December 2024 civil aviation passenger services fully promote the electronic invoice, known as the airline electronic ticket itinerary.
• For flights taken on or before 30 September 2025, the old paper itinerary remains valid for reimbursement. Receipts issued afterwards are electronic only.
• The paper itinerary, the electronic itinerary and other invoices cannot be issued twice for the same trip; you choose one.
• After the entire journey is completed, you can obtain the electronic itinerary through the airline's or agent's website, app or service hotline. Most carriers require this within 180 days after the journey ends, after which the application channel closes.
• The electronic itinerary no longer carries a special invoice stamp and can be filed directly, and it can be verified through the tax digital account and the national VAT verification platform, or by the individual through the Personal Income Tax app.

For groups, this makes reimbursement simpler than before: there is no queue at a counter, and the document is downloadable from the app once the trip is over.

3. Where to book: four channels compared

The practical recommendation for overseas travellers is to start with Trip.com or the airline's own international site. The former is the easiest for browsing and payment, while the latter gives the shortest communication chain when a flight is changed or cancelled. Domestic OTAs are often cheaper but usually assume a mainland phone number and a UnionPay card.

4. Can a foreign passport be used on a domestic flight? Yes, with three rules

• A passport is a valid travel document. The Civil Aviation Administration of China lists foreign passports as valid ID for domestic flights, and all mainstream booking channels accept them.
• Carry the physical passport. A photo, a phone screenshot or the copy stored inside a payment app is not accepted; check-in and security verify the original.
• Use one document throughout. The same passport for booking, check-in, security and boarding, with the name and number matching exactly. One wrong letter means calling customer service, and the fix may not succeed.

One more practical detail: the self-service check-in kiosks and automated gates are built around the chip in a Chinese resident ID card, and generally cannot read a passport. Nothing is broken; passport holders simply use the staffed counter and the manual security lane.

5. How the fare is built up

The final price shown for a domestic ticket in China normally has three components. Check the breakdown before paying.

The fuel surcharge is adjusted monthly with international oil prices, and the swings in 2026 have been large: it peaked at 90 CNH and 170 CNY in the first half of the year, then fell three times in a row from June and dropped to 40 and 70 CNY on 5 August. It is locked to the date of original issue: if the rate moves after you buy, a date change gets you nothing back and you are not charged the difference.

6. The timeline from booking to take-off

• Booking: confirm the name spelling matches the passport, and check the flight number, date and airports, since one city may have two airports far apart.
• Check-in: most airlines open online check-in 24 hours before departure. Online check-in can be restricted for foreign passport holders, in which case use the airport counter.
• Check-in closes: generally 25 minutes before departure, with small differences between airports.
• Security and boarding: gates usually close 15 minutes before departure. At large domestic airports arrive 90 minutes ahead; for international flights allow more than two hours.
• Boarding pass: electronic boarding passes work at some airports, but passport holders are advised to print a paper one to avoid gate reader issues.

Watch out for code-share flights. Your flight number may not be the operating carrier, and check-in must be done at the operating airline's counter. CA1590, ZH1590 and SC5656 can be the same aircraft operated by Air China, in which case go to the Air China desk.

7. Refunds and changes in 2026

• Tiered fees: refund and change charges are banded by how close you are to departure, typically 0% / 5% / 10% / 20%. The nearer the departure and the deeper the discount, the higher the fee.
• Earlier is cheaper: some carriers offer free voluntary change or refund on domestic tickets more than 14 days before departure, with 0–20% by cabin between 14 and 7 days out.
• Peak periods differ: refund rates often rise uniformly during the Spring Festival travel rush; special-period rules follow airline announcements.
• Low-cost carriers are different: Spring Airlines and 9 Air set their own refund and excess-baggage charges, so read the rules before booking.

At industry level, the China Air Transport Association is drafting a dedicated group standard for ticket refunds and changes and pushing for service upgrades, so the rules should become more transparent over time.

8. Expense receipts and the electronic itinerary

• After all flights are completed, log into the airline's website or app, or the original booking channel, and apply under the electronic invoice or itinerary section.
• To use it for tax deduction or accounting, fill in the buyer name and the unified social credit code; a personal header cannot be deducted.
• The document can be received by email or downloaded in the app.
• Do not apply twice. The electronic itinerary and a VAT ordinary invoice are alternatives, and an unused or partly unused ticket usually cannot be issued at all.

9. Five common mistakes

• Name mismatch: the passport says ZHANG SAN but the booking says SAN ZHANG, and boarding can be refused. Verify immediately after booking.
• Wrong airport: Shanghai has Pudong and Hongqiao, Chengdu has Shuangliu and Tianfu, Beijing has Capital and Daxing, and the two are far apart.
• Assuming baggage is included: some low fares exclude free checked baggage, and buying it at the counter is expensive.
• Expecting a paper itinerary: since 2026 the process is fully electronic and counters no longer print one.
• Ignoring the fuel surcharge on a change: it is fixed at issue date, so do not estimate from today's rate.

10. Fitting flights into the itinerary

A flight is only one link in the chain. What really shapes the trip is how it connects with the ground: the landing time, the transfer from the airport to the city, and whether the next leg is reachable. Jadetour's custom tour service plans flights, airport transfers and ground arrangements together, so you avoid arriving late at night with an early start the next morning. Send your dates, group size and cities through our contact page and leave the rest to us.