Arrival readiness

Flying inside China with a service dog: the 48-hour request, two certificates, and the border list that is not the same list

In short

I travel with a service dog and I am flying inside China. What does each side actually require?

Two doors with different paperwork. For the cabin, the request goes in at booking and no later than 48 hours before scheduled departure; the dog must be leashed before boarding, takes no seat of its own, and wears a muzzle unless the carrier has obtained the agreement of nearby passengers; it stays at your seat unless that blocks an evacuation route, and if your seat cannot take it the carrier owes you a seat that can. The rule asks for the dog identification certificate and quarantine certificate, handed to the relevant department — it never says which counter. For the border, the customs announcement requires an official quarantine certificate, a rabies vaccination certificate and a microchip for every dog, and exempts guide, hearing and search-and-rescue dogs from the 30-day quarantine on two further documents.

Back to the transport hub

Applies to

A passenger with a disability travelling with an assistance dog, hearing dog or guide dog on a carrier established under Chinese law. The border half applies to anyone bringing such a dog into China, on any flight.

Check before you rely on it

Facts come from the regulator's own full text of 《残疾人航空运输管理办法》 and the General Administration of Customs announcement 公告〔2019〕5 号, both read in full on the date below. The 2026 measures 民航规〔2026〕7号 are not cited here at all: the document never mentions a service dog. Deliberately absent: which border track an assistance dog takes, which ports and countries are on the customs lists, and anything about taking a dog out of China.

Information checked: October 19, 2026

The sharpest thing on this page is a mismatch. The cabin rule names assistance, hearing and guide dogs. The customs exemption names guide, hearing and search-and-rescue dogs. Only two categories are on both lists, and nothing read here closes the gap.

Transport hub Wheelchairs and assistive devices

The published clauses

What each authority states, article by article

Each line links the official document and the day we read it. Sources read 2026-10-19.

The cabin rule defines a service dog as three kinds of dog, and that list is closed

第四条(五) of 《残疾人航空运输管理办法》 (民航发〔2014〕105号, 有效性：有效): 『“服务犬”是指为残疾人生活和工作提供协助的特种犬，包括辅助犬、导听犬、导盲犬。』 An assistance dog, a hearing dog, a guide dog. A search-and-rescue dog is not in this definition, and neither is an emotional support animal — the rulebook never mentions one, so this page draws no conclusion either way about them.

Official source: Civil Aviation Administration of China (www.caac.gov.cn), 信息公开 — 政府公文; 办文单位：运输司 — 《残疾人航空运输管理办法》— Measures for the Administration of Air Transport of Passengers with Disabilities, 民航发〔2014〕105号, 有效性：有效 (source 2015-01-22; read October 19, 2026)

Bringing the dog into the cabin is a 48-hour request, and it sits outside the 24-hour reply duty

第十二条第一款 requires five kinds of request at booking and 『最迟不能晚于航班离站时间前48小时：』, with the dog as the fifth: 『（五）携带服务犬进入客舱。』 Then read 第十二条第三款 carefully: 『承运人应在24小时内答复具备乘机条件的残疾人，是否能够提供本条（一）至（四）项所需求的服务。』 Items (一) to (四) only. The service dog is item (五), so the carrier owes the 48-hour window but not the 24-hour answer on this one — chase the confirmation yourself rather than waiting for it.

The carrier must allow the dog, and the toileting is yours

第四十七条: 『承运人、机场和机场地面服务代理人应允许服务犬在航班上陪同具备乘机条件的残疾人。』 The same article assigns the responsibility: 『具备乘机条件的残疾人应负责服务犬在客舱内的排泄，并不会影响机上的卫生问题。』

Two certificates — and the rule does not say who you hand them to

第四十八条, in full: 『具备乘机条件的残疾人应向相关部门提供服务犬的身份证明和检疫证明。』 Two documents, the dog's identification certificate and its quarantine certificate. The recipient is written as 『相关部门』 — the relevant department — and the rulebook never narrows that to the carrier, the airport or Customs. So carry both and expect to produce them, but this page will not tell you that the airline counter is the place, because the clause does not say it.

Three hard rules in the cabin, plus a muzzle that is the default rather than the exception

第四十九条: 『带进客舱的服务犬，应在登机前为其系上牵引绳索，并不得占用座位和让其任意跑动。』 Leashed before boarding, no seat of its own, no roaming. The muzzle is where the wording surprises people: 『承运人在征得服务犬机上活动范围内相关旅客同意的情况下，可不要求残疾人为服务犬戴上口套。』 A muzzle is the baseline and the waiver depends on the carrier obtaining the agreement of the passengers within the dog's range on board.

Where the dog sits — and what happens when your seat cannot take it

第五十条: 『除阻塞紧急撤离的过道或区域外，服务犬应在残疾人的座位处陪伴。』 At your own seat, unless that would block an emergency evacuation aisle or area. The second sentence is the one worth knowing: 『具备乘机条件的残疾人的座位处不能容纳服务犬的，承运人应向残疾人提供一个座位，该座位处可容纳其服务犬。』 The remedy is a seat that fits the dog, not removal of the dog. 第二十四条 adds the request the carrier owes best efforts on: 『(三) 当具备乘机条件的残疾人与其服务犬同机旅行时，承运人应提供相应舱位的第一排座位或其他适合的座位；』

The dog goes through security like everyone else, and there is one instruction before the gate

第二十五条: 『具备乘机条件的残疾人及其服务犬应与其他旅客一样接受安全检查。』 The second sentence is the operational one: 『承运人、机场和机场地面服务代理人应通知具备乘机条件的残疾人在办理安检前清空随身携带的排泄袋。』第五十九条 also requires staff training specifically on screening a service dog: 『（三）对具备乘机条件的残疾人及其行李物品、服务犬进行安全检查方面的培训；』

Travelling with a service dog puts you inside the per-flight cap on evacuation assistance

第九条第二款 names who is counted: 『包括使用轮椅的残疾人、下肢严重残疾但未安装假肢的残疾人、盲人、携带服务犬乘机的残疾人、智力或精神严重受损不能理解机上工作人员指令的残疾人。』 A passenger travelling with a service dog is on that list verbatim, so the 第九条 table applies: 『（一）航班座位数为51-100个时，为2名；』『（二）航班座位数为101-200个时，为4名；』『（三）航班座位数为201-400个时，为6名；』『（四）航班座位数为400个以上时，为8名；』 Beyond those figures, companions are added 『应按1:1的比例』 and the number may at most double. The limit is also a ceiling on refusals: 『除本条规定外，承运人不得以航班上限制残疾人人数为由，拒绝运输具备乘机条件的残疾人。』 — which is why the 48-hour request matters on a small aircraft.

Flying in: before the cabin door there is a customs door, and it starts with one dog per person

海关总署公告2019年第5号 (『公告〔2019〕5 号』, in force 『本公告内容自2019年5月1日起施行。』) 第一条: 『携带入境的活动物仅限犬或者猫（以下称“宠物”），并且每人每次限带1只。』 and 『携带人应当向海关提供输出国家或者地区官方动物检疫机构出具的有效检疫证书和狂犬病疫苗接种证书。宠物应当具有电子芯片。』 An official quarantine certificate from the exporting country or region, a rabies vaccination certificate, and a microchip. This applies to every dog brought in, working dogs included.

Official source: State Council policy-document database (www.gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/), 发文机关：海关总署, 来源：海关总署网站 — 海关总署公告2019年第5号《关于进一步规范携带宠物入境检疫监管工作的公告》— General Administration of Customs Announcement 公告〔2019〕5 号 on pets brought into China (source 2019-01-02; read October 19, 2026)

The default at the border is 30 days of quarantine at a designated port

第二条 opens with the baseline before any exemption: 『携带入境的宠物应在海关指定的隔离场隔离检疫30天（截留期限计入在内）。』 and 『需隔离检疫的宠物应当从建设有隔离检疫设施的口岸入境。』 So a dog that does not qualify for an exemption is quarantined for 30 days, the detention period counting towards it, and may only enter through a port that has quarantine facilities — which is a routing decision, not just a paperwork one.

The working-dog exemption, and the two documents it asks for

第二条(三): 『（三）携带宠物属于导盲犬、导听犬、搜救犬的，具有有效电子芯片，携带人提供相应使用者证明和专业训练证明并经现场检疫合格的。』 A valid microchip, a user certificate, a professional training certificate, and passing on-the-spot quarantine. Note that these are not the two documents the aviation rule asks for: 第四十八条 of the civil aviation rulebook wants the dog's identification certificate and its quarantine certificate. Two doors, two different sets of paper.

The two lists of dogs do not match, and this is the sharpest edge on the page

The customs exemption names 『导盲犬、导听犬、搜救犬』 — guide dog, hearing dog, search-and-rescue dog. The cabin definition in 第四条(五) names 『辅助犬、导听犬、导盲犬』 — assistance dog, hearing dog, guide dog. Only two categories overlap. An assistance dog is a service dog for the cabin and is not on the customs exemption list; a search-and-rescue dog is on the customs list and is not a service dog under the aviation rule. Nothing read in this pass says which track an assistance dog takes at the border, so this page states the gap rather than closing it.

What the exemption does not excuse: the certificates themselves

第三条 lists four outcomes that end in return or destruction, and the second is documentary: 『（二）携带人不能向海关提供输出国家或者地区官方动物检疫机构出具的有效检疫证书或狂犬病疫苗接种证书的；』 The only concession is narrow and covers one certificate: 『对仅不能提供疫苗接种证书的导盲犬、导听犬、搜救犬，经携带人申请，可以在有资质的机构对其接种狂犬病疫苗。』 Missing the quarantine certificate is not in that concession. If a return is ordered, 『作限期退回处理的宠物，携带人应当在规定的期限内持海关签发的截留凭证，领取并携带宠物出境；逾期不领取的，作自动放弃处理。』

The lists that decide your route are published separately, and this page does not reproduce them

第二条 ends by handing three lists elsewhere: 『指定国家或地区名单、采信狂犬病抗体检测结果的实验室名单、建设有隔离检疫设施的口岸名单以海关总署公布为准。』 Designated countries and regions, recognised antibody-testing laboratories, and ports with quarantine facilities — all subject to what Customs publishes. 第四条 also pushes the detailed requirements into an annex, 『关于携带宠物入境的具体检疫要求详见附件《中华人民共和国携带入境宠物检疫要求》。』 None of those annexes was opened in this pass, so no country, port or laboratory is named here.

Where a complaint goes, with no window and no reply deadline attached

第六十三条: 『具备乘机条件的残疾人的合法权益受到损害时，可向承运人、机场和机场地面服务代理人投诉，也可向民航主管部门投诉。』第六十四条 requires each of them to set up a dedicated body or named staff, publish its intake method and file it with the authority. The 2026 measures add that passenger complaints are one of the triggers for a regional administration to run a special inspection. What none of them gives is an intake point, a time limit or a reply deadline — so this page names the destinations and stops there.

Border door first, cabin door second

Two sets of certificates, in the order you meet them

1.Check which list your dog is on, in both documents. The cabin rule covers 辅助犬, 导听犬 and 导盲犬; the customs quarantine exemption covers 导盲犬, 导听犬 and 搜救犬. Only two categories are on both.
2.If you are flying into China, get the exporting country's official quarantine certificate and a rabies vaccination certificate, and confirm the dog's microchip works. These are required of every dog brought in, with no working-dog exception.
3.For the quarantine exemption, add the user certificate and the professional training certificate the announcement names, and expect on-the-spot quarantine at the border.
4.Confirm what Customs currently publishes for designated countries and regions, recognised laboratories, and which ports have quarantine facilities. A dog that needs quarantine may only enter through a port that has the facilities, which can change your routing.
5.For the domestic flight itself, file the cabin request at booking and no later than 48 hours before scheduled departure (第十二条(五)). The 24-hour reply duty does not cover this item, so follow it up rather than waiting.
6.Carry the dog's identification certificate and quarantine certificate for the aviation side as well (第四十八条). The rule says these go to 『相关部门』 and does not name which counter.
7.Empty any ostomy bag before security screening, as 第二十五条 requires the carrier and airport to tell you, and expect the dog to be screened like any other passenger.
8.At the gate and on board: leash the dog before boarding, expect a muzzle unless the carrier has obtained the agreement of nearby passengers, and keep the dog at your seat unless that blocks an evacuation route. If your seat cannot take the dog, the carrier owes you a seat that can.

The failure points

Where a working dog actually gets stopped

None of the four is about the dog behaving badly. All four are about which list and which paper.

The two lists were merged. An assistance dog is a service dog in the cabin and is absent from the customs exemption list; a search-and-rescue dog is the reverse. A single sentence covering both doors does not exist in either document.
The exemption was read as excusing the certificates. It excuses the 30-day quarantine. Failure to produce a valid quarantine certificate or a rabies vaccination certificate is listed among the situations ending in return or destruction.
The 48-hour request was left until the airport. Cabin carriage of the dog is item (五) of 第十二条, and item (五) is also outside the carrier's 24-hour reply duty — so nothing comes back to reassure you.
The muzzle was treated as optional. 第四十九条 makes it the default and lets the carrier waive it only after obtaining the agreement of the passengers within the dog's range on board.

Two doors, side by side

The cabin list and the border list, kept apart on purpose

Reading them as one list is the single most expensive mistake available on this topic.

Kind of dog	Cabin, under 第四条(五)	Border, under 第二条(三)
导盲犬 guide dog	Service dog	Exempt from the 30-day quarantine
导听犬 hearing dog	Service dog	Exempt from the 30-day quarantine
辅助犬 assistance dog	Service dog	Not on the exemption list; no document read here says more
搜救犬 search-and-rescue dog	Not a service dog under this definition	Exempt from the 30-day quarantine

The paperwork differs as well as the categories. The aviation rule wants the dog identification certificate and the quarantine certificate. The customs exemption wants a working microchip, a user certificate and a professional training certificate, on top of the official quarantine certificate and rabies vaccination certificate every dog needs. Clearing one door says nothing about the other, and neither document mentions the other.

In short

What travellers ask before booking

How early to tell the airline, which dogs count, what paperwork each door wants, and whether a flight can be full of passengers needing assistance.

How far in advance must I tell the airline about my service dog?

At booking, and no later than 48 hours before the scheduled departure time. 第十二条 lists 『（五）携带服务犬进入客舱。』 among the five requests inside that window. One thing to watch: the carrier's 24-hour reply duty under 第十二条第三款 covers items (一) to (四) only, so the service dog request does not come with a guaranteed answer within a day.

Which dogs count as service dogs on a Chinese domestic flight?

第四条(五) defines them as special-purpose dogs assisting a person with disabilities in daily life and work, and names three: 辅助犬 (assistance dog), 导听犬 (hearing dog) and 导盲犬 (guide dog). An emotional support animal is not in that definition and the rulebook says nothing about one, so this page makes no claim either way about emotional support animals.

What paperwork does the dog need?

Two sets, for two different doors. For the flight, 第四十八条 requires the dog's identification certificate and its quarantine certificate, handed to 『相关部门』 — the rule does not say whether that is the carrier, the airport or Customs. For entry into China, the customs announcement requires the exporting country's official quarantine certificate, a rabies vaccination certificate and a microchip for every dog, plus a user certificate and a professional training certificate to qualify for the quarantine exemption.

Is my guide dog exempt from quarantine when I fly into China?

From the 30-day quarantine, yes, under 第二条(三) of 海关总署公告2019年第5号 — provided the dog has a valid microchip, you provide the user certificate and the professional training certificate, and it passes on-the-spot quarantine. It is not exempt from the certificates themselves: failure to produce a valid quarantine certificate or rabies vaccination certificate is listed in 第三条 among the situations ending in a time-limited return or destruction. The one concession covers a missing vaccination certificate only, by arranging vaccination at a qualified institution.

I travel with an assistance dog. Does the border exemption cover it?

The customs exemption list names 导盲犬, 导听犬 and 搜救犬, and an assistance dog is not among them — although it is a service dog in the cabin under 第四条(五). Nothing read in this pass states which track an assistance dog takes at the border, so this page does not say it is treated as an ordinary pet and does not say it is treated as a working dog. That gap is real and worth resolving with Customs before you book.

Will the dog have to wear a muzzle?

Read 第四十九条 as written: the carrier may waive the muzzle 『在征得服务犬机上活动范围内相关旅客同意的情况下』 — where it has obtained the agreement of the passengers within the dog's range on board. The muzzle is the default and the waiver is conditional on other passengers, which means it is not something you can rely on in advance.

Can the airline refuse to carry me because the flight already has other passengers needing assistance?

Only within 第九条. A passenger travelling with a service dog is counted verbatim among those who would need help in an emergency evacuation, and the per-flight numbers run 2 for 51-100 seats, 4 for 101-200, 6 for 201-400 and 8 above 400, with companions added at a 1:1 ratio beyond that. Outside those figures, 第九条第三款 bars a carrier from refusing a qualifying passenger on the grounds of a limit on numbers. Because the cap is real, the 48-hour request is what secures your place on a smaller aircraft.

Could not confirm

What this page will not assert

The assistance-dog gap at the border is the one that matters most, and it is left open rather than guessed at. Nothing below was on a first-party page opened in this pass.

Whether an assistance dog (辅助犬) qualifies for the customs quarantine exemption. It is a service dog under the aviation rule and is not on the customs list of 导盲犬、导听犬、搜救犬; no document read in this pass states which track it takes.
Who 『相关部门』 is in 第四十八条. The clause names no authority, and this page does not convert it into the airline check-in counter.
How emotional support animals are treated. They are absent from the service-dog definition in 第四条(五) and from the customs announcement; absence is not a prohibition and not a permission, so nothing is asserted.
Which countries and regions are designated, which laboratories are recognised, and which ports have quarantine facilities. The announcement itself says all three lists are as published by the General Administration of Customs, and none was opened here.
What 《中华人民共和国携带入境宠物检疫要求》 and the three other annexes to the announcement contain. All four are unopened, so no on-the-spot inspection item and no registration-form field appears here.
Whether 海关总署公告2019年第5号 has been amended since. The text read here is the original, dated 2019-01-02 and in force from 2019-05-01, read on the State Council policy-document site; the customs website itself returned an HTTP 412 block on the day of this pass, so no search of that site was possible.
What is required to take a service dog out of China. The announcement covers entry only and says nothing in either direction about departure.
Whether clearing Customs means the airline will carry the dog, or the reverse. The two doors are independent, and neither document mentions the other.
The complaint channel's intake point, time limit or reply deadline. 第六十三条 to 第六十五条 give the destinations and require each body to publish its own intake method; no number of days, phone number or address appears in either document read here.
Anything about guide dogs on Chinese trains. That catalogue comes from railway documents and is published separately on this site; the aviation rule has no railway clause and the railway rule has no aviation clause.

Wheelchairs and assistive devices

The other half of the same rulebook: the 48-hour request, check-in two hours before the general cut-off, the nine-device annex, and the battery rule that quotes no figure.

Open page

Guide dogs at a railway security gate

The rail side runs on railway documents, with its own catalogue and its own treatment of a working dog. The aviation rule has no railway clause.

Open page

What customs declares on arrival

The declaration channel an inbound traveller meets, and the two prohibition tables behind it — the general border door this dog arrives through.

Open page

Flying inside China with a service dog: the 48-hour request, two certificates, and the border list that is not the same list

I travel with a service dog and I am flying inside China. What does each side actually require?

What each authority states, article by article

The cabin rule defines a service dog as three kinds of dog, and that list is closed

Bringing the dog into the cabin is a 48-hour request, and it sits outside the 24-hour reply duty

The carrier must allow the dog, and the toileting is yours

Two certificates — and the rule does not say who you hand them to

Three hard rules in the cabin, plus a muzzle that is the default rather than the exception

Where the dog sits — and what happens when your seat cannot take it

The dog goes through security like everyone else, and there is one instruction before the gate

Travelling with a service dog puts you inside the per-flight cap on evacuation assistance

Flying in: before the cabin door there is a customs door, and it starts with one dog per person

The default at the border is 30 days of quarantine at a designated port

The working-dog exemption, and the two documents it asks for

The two lists of dogs do not match, and this is the sharpest edge on the page

What the exemption does not excuse: the certificates themselves

The lists that decide your route are published separately, and this page does not reproduce them

Where a complaint goes, with no window and no reply deadline attached

Two sets of certificates, in the order you meet them

Where a working dog actually gets stopped

The cabin list and the border list, kept apart on purpose

What travellers ask before booking

How far in advance must I tell the airline about my service dog?

Which dogs count as service dogs on a Chinese domestic flight?

What paperwork does the dog need?

Is my guide dog exempt from quarantine when I fly into China?

I travel with an assistance dog. Does the border exemption cover it?

Will the dog have to wear a muzzle?

Can the airline refuse to carry me because the flight already has other passengers needing assistance?

What this page will not assert

Wheelchairs and assistive devices

Guide dogs at a railway security gate

What customs declares on arrival

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