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Taking a domestic flight in China as a foreign visitor

In short

Do I fly a domestic leg on my passport?

Yes. A foreigner's domestic flight in mainland China is real-name: an identity document is demanded both when you buy the ticket and when you check in, and at security you present a boarding pass together with the same passport. Arrive with a document that does not match the booking and the mismatch stops you at the counter.

Back to the transport hub

Applies to

Any internal leg between two mainland China airports on a first trip — a Beijing-Xi'an-Shanghai hop, a connecting flight after an international arrival, or an internal leg booked separately.

Check before you rely on it

The airline sets baggage allowances and the airport sets terminals; those are not one national figure. Whether a connection re-clears security or through-checks bags is not published in English, so leave a buffer.

Information checked:

The trains taught you that travel here is real-name. A domestic flight is the same, and the one document that works is the passport you entered on.

Transport hubWhat security will let through

Which document flies

What you are carrying, and whether it works for a domestic flight

A domestic flight is real-name. The document you book on is the one you must carry to the gate.

What you are carryingWorks for a domestic flight?Detail
Your ordinary passport (the one you entered China on)Yes — this is your valid documentThe regulator's passenger-services page lists a valid passport among the valid boarding identity documents, and requires the same document for ticketing, check-in and security. Book on it, and carry that same passport to the gate.

Source: Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), passenger-services section of the CAAC portal (www.caac.gov.cn) — Air travel basics — Boarding: use a valid identity document (航空旅行常识 · 乘机 · 使用有效身份证件) (source published 16 March 2023; read August 7, 2026)

A Chinese ID card, driving licence, or another country's IDNo — not your document at a domestic checkpointThe airport requires the valid travel document that matches the one you booked with. For a foreign visitor that is the passport, not a resident-style ID card.

Source: Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport (深圳宝安国际机场), the airport authority's own official English website — Security check and valid documents for domestic departure (source published August 2020; read August 7, 2026)

Carrier document list · read October 6, 2026

The valid boarding documents, clause by clause

The regulator's page names the passport but does not enumerate the documents a foreign passenger can fly on. China Southern's own notice does, and it attributes the list to Ministry of Transport and CAAC provisions — so this is the list an airport counter is working from.

Valid boarding documents for a mainland domestic flight, as published by the carrier
What it means at the counterWhat the notice statesClause
The document is demanded twice: buying the ticket, and checking inThe carrier states the requirement as a national one — 国家规定旅客在购买飞机票、办理乘机手续时，必须提供由政府主管部门规定的证明其身份的证件: when buying a ticket and when completing boarding formalities, a passenger must produce the identity document prescribed by the competent government department. This is the whole of what people mean when they say a Chinese domestic flight is real-name.Valid boarding documents, opening requirement
A foreign passenger's list is four documents, and the passport is the firstThe enumeration is grouped by who holds the document, and the foreign-passenger group reads 外籍旅客的护照、外交部签发的驻华外交人员证 … 外国人永久居留身份证、外国人出入境证 — the passport, the resident diplomatic-staff ID issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the foreign permanent resident ID card, and the foreigners' exit-entry certificate — followed by the open-ended 民航局规定的其他有效乘机身份证件, other valid boarding identity documents prescribed by the CAAC. For an ordinary visitor, that is the passport.Valid boarding documents, item 1
The list is a transport-ministry and CAAC list, not an airline preferenceThe carrier prefaces the whole enumeration with 根据交通运输部及民航局相关规定 — in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Ministry of Transport and the Civil Aviation Administration of China. So the document that works is not up to the airline you booked, even though this is an airline's page. No notice number is printed here, and this page therefore cites none.Valid boarding documents, item 1
One document, all the way through booking, check-in and securityIn the carrier's own English: Passengers shall use the same valid travel document when taking domestic flights, purchasing tickets, going through check-in and security check procedures. The Chinese edition of the same page puts it as 旅客乘坐国内航班、办理购票、值机、安检手续应当使用同一个有效乘机身份证证明. Booking on a passport and arriving on anything else is the failure this clause exists to prevent.Valid boarding documents, special notice
A seaman certificate is on the mainland-resident list, not the foreign-passenger one海员证 is the last entry of the group that opens 中国大陆地区居民的居民身份证 — the documents mainland residents hold — and it does not appear in the four-item foreign-passenger group. This page previously published the seaman certificate as an applicable document for a foreign passenger, sourced only to the mirrored notice. On the carrier's own text that claim does not stand, and it is withdrawn here.Valid boarding documents, item 1
The WeChat and Alipay temporary boarding certificate is not a lost-passport routeThe 民航临时乘机证明 mini-programme — the first thing a search for a lost ID at a Chinese airport turns up — is written for 内地旅客的居民身份证在户籍所在地以外被盗或丢失的: a mainland passenger whose resident ID card was stolen or lost away from the place of household registration. It is not offered to a foreign passenger who has lost a passport, so do not plan around it.Valid boarding documents, item 3(4)
For Lhasa and Nyingchi, the document decides whether you can book online持有中国公民身份证的旅客可以通过客户端自助购买飞赴西藏拉萨、林芝的航班客票 — self-service booking of flights to Lhasa and Nyingchi is written for holders of a Chinese citizen ID card — while 持有其他证件的旅客，请到当地的南航售票处核验进藏证件及购票: a passenger on any other document is told to go to a China Southern ticket office to have the Tibet-entry documents checked and the ticket issued there. This one is this carrier's own procedure, not a national rule.Tibet travel notice

This is an airline's own published notice, not the regulator's page: it is good evidence of which document is accepted at a Chinese airport, because it is what the carrier operates on, and the carrier attributes the list to Ministry of Transport and CAAC provisions. It is not the instrument itself. The page prints no notice number and no publication date, so this layer carries a read date only, cites no document number, and says nothing about the replacement documents a foreign passenger can fly on while a passport is being re-issued — no official page carrying that could be opened on the day this was read.

Published as 《旅行证件提醒》 · 有效的乘机证件 (Travel document reminder — valid boarding documents) by China Southern Airlines (中国南方航空公司), on its own corporate site www.csair.com, which states the list's basis as 根据交通运输部及民航局相关规定 — the Ministry of Transport and the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

Open source: the carrier's valid-document noticeOpen source: the same notice in the carrier's English

Pages read

The published facts

What the rule and the airport actually say

Each line links the official page and the day we read it. Sources read 2026-08-07.

One document, from booking to the gate

The regulator's own passenger-services page lists a valid passport among the documents accepted for a domestic flight, and states that a passenger taking a domestic flight must use the same valid boarding identity document for ticketing, check-in and security. Book on your passport and everything downstream has to match it.

Source: Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), passenger-services section of the CAAC portal (www.caac.gov.cn) — Air travel basics — Boarding: use a valid identity document (航空旅行常识 · 乘机 · 使用有效身份证件) (source published 16 March 2023; read August 7, 2026)

Turning up with a different document is where it fails

The regulator states the requirement as one document for all three steps — ticketing, check-in and the security check. Nothing here is about carrying extra paperwork; it is about the booking, the boarding pass and the document in your hand being the same document. Which documents count for a foreign passenger is set out in the carrier's list further down this page.

Source: Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), passenger-services section of the CAAC portal (www.caac.gov.cn) — Air travel basics — Boarding: use a valid identity document (航空旅行常识 · 乘机 · 使用有效身份证件) (source published 16 March 2023; read August 7, 2026)

Why you will read 'ID card, not passport'

State media reported a 2017 rule that domestic air travellers carry their personal IDs rather than passports. That rule is about Chinese residents, who hold resident ID cards. As a foreign visitor your passport is the valid document, so the line is not about you.

State-media report, not a regulatory page: People's Daily Online (en.people.cn), Chinese state media — Domestic flights require passengers to show IDs, not passports (source published 22 May 2017; read August 7, 2026)

If you are connecting at a hub

At a hub, a connection is guided: you may be met by pick-up staff, given a transit stamp confirming the onward gate, and a transit service counter handles transfer procedures, information and rescheduling. Leave a comfortable buffer between legs.

Carrier or operator notice implementing the rule, not the regulator's own page: China Southern Airlines (csair.com), official English transit-process page for Beijing Capital International Airport — Beijing Capital Airport Transit Process (read August 7, 2026)

Booking to the gate

Five steps from booking to boarding

  1. 1.Book under your passport: enter your real name and passport details exactly as printed, because the flight is registered against that document.
  2. 2.Carry that same passport to the airport — the document is registered at booking and verified at check-in.
  3. 3.At check-in, present that passport: the rule is that one valid boarding identity document covers ticketing, check-in and security, so a mismatch is caught here.
  4. 4.At security, present your boarding pass together with the passport, and it must be consistent with the document you booked on.
  5. 5.Arrive with time to spare: liquids and battery rules are stricter than the international ones you may expect, so leave room to repack.

If you are connecting

Changing planes at a hub

Enough to move with confidence, without asserting a rule that no page we opened confirms.

  • A hub connection is guided: pick-up staff at the bridge, a possible transit stamp confirming your onward gate, and a transit service counter for transfer procedures and rescheduling.
  • Leave a comfortable buffer. Whether you re-clear security between two domestic legs, and whether your bag is through-checked, is not published in English, so plan for the slower case.

In short

Domestic-flight questions a visitor asks first

The passport question, the ID-card confusion, and the failure that ends in refused boarding.

Do I use my passport for a domestic flight in China?

Yes. A foreigner's domestic flight is real-name, and the passport is a listed valid document. Book on your passport and carry the same passport to check-in and security — it must match the document you booked with.

I keep reading that domestic flights need an ID card, not a passport. Is that about me?

No. That rule, reported by state media in 2017, applies to Chinese residents who hold resident ID cards. As a foreign visitor your passport is your valid travel document for a domestic flight.

What happens if I turn up without the passport I booked on?

The rule is one valid boarding identity document for ticketing, check-in and the security check, so a document that does not match your booking stops you at the counter rather than at the gate. Carry the same passport you booked with.

Which documents other than a passport can a foreign passenger fly on?

China Southern's published list, which it attributes to Ministry of Transport and CAAC provisions, gives foreign passengers four documents: the passport, the resident diplomatic-staff ID issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the foreign permanent resident ID card, and the foreigners' exit-entry certificate — plus any other boarding identity document the CAAC prescribes. For an ordinary visitor that is the passport.

Does a seaman certificate work for a foreign passenger on a domestic flight?

Not on the carrier list we read. 海员证 sits at the end of the group of documents mainland residents hold, and it is not in the four-item foreign-passenger group. An earlier version of this page said otherwise on weaker evidence; this is the correction.

Can I book a flight to Lhasa online, or do I have to go to a ticket office?

China Southern writes self-service online booking for flights to Lhasa and Nyingchi for holders of a Chinese citizen ID card, and sends holders of any other document to a China Southern ticket office so the Tibet-entry documents can be checked and the ticket issued there. That is this carrier's own procedure, so check it with the airline you are actually booking.

My passport was lost or is being re-issued. Can I still fly domestic?

We could not confirm this one. No official page we could open on October 6, 2026 publishes the documents a foreign passenger may fly on while a passport is being replaced, so this page does not state a path. What we can say is what not to rely on: the WeChat and Alipay 民航临时乘机证明 mini-programme is written for mainland passengers who lost a resident ID card, not for a lost passport. Ask the airline and the local exit-entry administration before you travel.

Is a domestic connection guided, or am I on my own?

At a hub it is guided — pick-up staff, a possible transit stamp for the onward gate, and a transit service counter. Leave a comfortable buffer; the exact re-screening and baggage rules for a connection are not published in English, so build in margin.

Could not confirm

What this page will not assert

Facts that circulate widely but were not on a page we could open. We leave them here rather than guess.

  • What a foreign passenger may fly on while a passport is expired, lost or damaged and being re-issued. This page used to publish a fallback path on the strength of a carrier notice we could only reach through a third-party mirror; on October 6, 2026 no page on a regulator's or an airline's own domain carrying that path could be opened, so we have withdrawn it rather than keep citing the mirror. Ask the airline and the local exit-entry administration.
  • The number and title of the notice behind the real-name requirement. It circulates widely, but it appears only in search summaries and on commercial and news sites — no official page carrying it could be opened, so this page cites no notice number. The carrier attributes its own document list to Ministry of Transport and CAAC provisions, and that is as far as the sourcing goes.
  • Whether a domestic-to-domestic connection re-clears security is not stated on a page we could open. The China Southern service-commitments page carrying that detail returned an error, so we could not confirm it.
  • Whether checked baggage is through-checked to your final leg or must be collected and self-transferred is likewise not confirmed on an opened page.
  • There is no single national domestic checked-baggage weight or size allowance; those are per-airline commercial figures, so check the carrier you booked.
  • Terminal assignments vary by airport and airline and are not published as one rule; confirm your terminal with the airline before you travel.

What security will let through

The companion page: cabin liquids banned, the dangerous-goods list, and battery watt-hour tiers on a domestic flight.

Open page

Power banks: the CCC rule

The one-item deep dive — why a power bank bought abroad usually fails the domestic checkpoint.

Open page

If the flight breaks

Delay, cancellation, involuntary refund and compensation once the flight itself goes wrong.

Open page

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