Part of 60,000+ itineraries issued worldwide.
Flight Itinerary for Visa Application in China
A genuine flight reservation for your visa file, without paying for a ticket you may have to change. Live carrier, flight number, routing and PNR, delivered as a PDF within a minute of paying. Search from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou or anywhere else in mainland China, and book the real fare once your passport comes back.
- ✓ Emailed as a PDF within seconds of payment
- ✓ Live flight data – carrier, flight number, aircraft
- ✓ Ready to attach to a VFS or visa centre submission
- Airline
- Real carrier & flight number
- Passengers
- As printed on the passport
- Reference
- Booking ref & PNR
- Delivery
- PDF by email, under a minute
Get a flight itinerary for your China visa application
This is written for holders of a mainland (PRC) passport. HKSAR and Macau SAR passports carry different visa-exemption rules and mostly don't need this the same way.
A mainland Chinese passport needs a visa arranged in advance for almost everywhere its holders travel in number: the Schengen area, the UK, the United States, Canada, Australia and Japan among them. Every one of those applications wants the trip described in specifics – route, dates, the flights you actually expect to board – not a general statement of intent.
Schengen visas from China are not filed through one office. Each member state runs its own outsourced visa centre network across Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Shenyang, Wuhan and other major cities, and which one has jurisdiction over your file depends on where you live, not which country you'd rather visit. France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, the Czech Republic and Greece each maintain a separate network here, and the checklist differs between them.
None of that is the same thing as an ADS group tour visa, arranged by a travel agency for a package trip. This is for the individual application route – the one where you assemble your own supporting documents, including the flight itinerary the centre asks you to submit.
Slot availability at the busier centres runs tight in peak season, and processing afterwards adds weeks on top. A fare bought at the start of that stretch is a fare you're negotiating a change or a refund on the moment your appointment date moves, which is outside your control once it's booked.
What's actually being read is consistency – the itinerary against your stated travel dates, against your insurance cover, against the hotel booking or invitation letter already in the file. A reservation with a real carrier, a flight number and a reference that resolves gives the officer something definite to check, instead of a promise about what you intend to book later.
Visa applications that need a dummy flight ticket from China
Mainland Chinese applicants asked to set out a trip on paper before a mission has decided anything.
- ✓ Schengen visa – France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and others
- ✓ UK Standard Visitor visa
- ✓ US B1/B2 visitor visa
- ✓ Canada visitor visa or study permit
- ✓ Australia visitor visa (subclass 600)
- ✓ Japan tourist visa
- ✓ Any airline or immigration check asking for proof of onward travel
What a flight reservation for visa costs from China
One flat fee covers the itinerary however many legs it carries, plus a small amount for each traveller after the first. Set that against what a real return fare out of Beijing or Shanghai costs, and the case for evidencing the trip rather than buying it makes itself.
One flight, one direction – the usual choice for a study move or a work relocation with no return date to show.
Both legs on one PDF. This is the form most Schengen and UK files lodged from China are checked against.
Flat rate whatever the leg count – a multi-country Schengen trip, or a routing with a stop either way.
- Each extra adult ¥100 · $15
- Each child (2–11) ¥70 · $10
- Each infant (under 2) ¥35 · $5
Charged in US dollars ($15 / $19 / $25). CNY figures are indicative, converted at ¥6.76 to $1 on 8 August 2026 – your bank sets its own rate on the day, so expect a small difference.
Your provisional flight booking: search, list, pay, download
No account to open first, and no one to call before you start.
Find a flight that's actually operating
Enter the route and dates out of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou or wherever the trip genuinely begins. The result is checked against live schedules, so it's a service that's really flying.
Enter each traveller
Copy every name exactly as printed on the passport's data page, in the order it appears there. Everyone on the same trip goes on one document.
Pay ¥100
¥100 one-way, ¥130 round-trip, ¥170 multi-city. The charge settles in US dollars, so your bank sets the yuan figure on the day.
Collect the PDF
It's sent the moment the payment clears. Order Lookup brings it back up later with your email and booking reference.
Paying for your flight itinerary for visa with a Chinese card
A dual-currency card clears this without touching your annual forex quota in any way that matters.
A dual-currency UnionPay, Visa or Mastercard works
Most Chinese bank cards issued with international function switched on will clear a small USD charge like this directly. A domestic-only UnionPay card, or one with the overseas function turned off, is the usual reason a payment is declined here – not the balance on the card.
Well inside the personal forex quota
Individuals in China have an annual foreign-exchange quota well into five figures in US dollars. An itinerary at ¥100 to ¥170 is a rounding error against it, not something that needs separate approval.
The yuan figure you'll actually see
About ¥100 one-way, ¥130 round-trip and ¥170 multi-city. The charge itself settles in US dollars, so the exact yuan figure is set by your card issuer on the day.
Stripe takes your card details over an encrypted connection that never touches our servers directly. If the checkout page is slow to load, that's more often a connectivity issue reaching an overseas payment processor than anything wrong with the card – trying again, or over a different connection, usually clears it.
What your dummy flight ticket includes for China
A single PDF, emailed within seconds, in the shape a visa centre submission expects.
A dummy flight ticket with live airline data
Operating carrier, flight number and aircraft type per sector, pulled straight from live availability at the moment you search.
Routing and timings
Airports, dates and times leg by leg, with any connection through a European, North American or Gulf hub set out as its own line rather than folded into a summary.
Passenger block
Names as printed on each passport data page, next to a booking reference and PNR.
A reference that actually resolves
Search it and a genuine booking comes back, because there's a real reservation behind it – the reason to use one instead of an edited image.
Departure airports for your dummy flight ticket from China
Most applications filed from China depart from Beijing, Shanghai or Guangzhou, where every Schengen member state's visa centre network is represented, but you're not limited to them. These eight are the busiest international gateways in the search index; building an itinerary from an airport outside mainland China entirely is no obstacle either.
| Airport | City | IATA |
|---|---|---|
| Beijing Capital International Airport | Beijing | PEK |
| Shanghai Pudong International Airport | Shanghai | PVG |
| Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport | Guangzhou | CAN |
| Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport | Shenzhen | SZX |
| Chengdu Tianfu International Airport | Chengdu | CTU |
| Xi'an Xianyang International Airport | Xi'an | XIY |
| Nanjing Lukou International Airport | Nanjing | NKG |
| Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport | Chongqing | CKG |
Air China and Air France both fly this nonstop, and it's the route behind most French Schengen files lodged in Beijing. France runs its own visa centre network here, separate from the other member states.
China Southern's nonstop out of its home hub. The Netherlands operates its own outsourced visa centres in China, distinct from France's or Germany's checklist.
China Southern's nonstop. UK Standard Visitor applications go in online with biometrics captured at a VFS Global centre, and guidance is explicit that travel shouldn't be booked ahead of a decision.
Air China's nonstop. B1/B2 interviews take place at the embassy in Beijing or the consulates in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenyang and Wuhan – set departure safely after whichever interview date you're given.
Air Canada's nonstop out of Shanghai. Visitor and study permit files ask you to set out the purpose and the plan; an itinerary evidences it without locking in dates current processing times make unlikely to survive.
Multiple daily nonstops on ANA, JAL and China Eastern. Japan's tourist visa application asks for a day-by-day schedule of stay, and the itinerary needs to agree with it rather than just sit near it.
Chinese visa applications that ask for a flight reservation
What's asked for, and which office handles it, differs by destination and – for Schengen – by which member state's centre takes your file.
Schengen Area
Filed through whichever member state's outsourced visa centre has jurisdiction over your city of residence – there's no single Schengen office in China. Your itinerary has to agree with your stated dates and your travel insurance cover; a mismatch between those three is one of the most common reasons a file comes back.
France
The most commonly chosen Schengen entry point from China, filed through France's own outsourced centre network rather than a shared Schengen queue. Your first port of entry should match the country you actually applied to.
United Kingdom
The online form is followed by a biometrics appointment at a VFS Global centre. Your itinerary goes in with the supporting documents, and UK guidance is unambiguous that travel shouldn't be booked before a decision.
United States
B1/B2 interviews run at the embassy in Beijing and consulates in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenyang and Wuhan. Wait times for an interview slot have run long at points, which is exactly why committing to a fare before that date is a poor bet.
Canada
Visitor visa and study permit applications ask you to describe your intended travel in detail. An itinerary covers that without committing you to dates a longer-than-expected processing time would strand.
Japan
Tourist visa applications ask for a schedule of stay alongside a flight reservation, and the two are read against each other line by line rather than just checked for a rough match.
Checklists differ between member states and are revised without much notice. Confirm the current requirement, and the correct visa centre for your city, before you lodge.
Where a Chinese flight reservation for visa comes unstuck
Refusals rarely turn on the reservation itself. They turn on the reservation disagreeing with something else already in the file.
Filing at the wrong Schengen centre
Jurisdiction runs by city of residence and by which member state you applied to, not by preference. A submission to the wrong national centre, or built around the wrong entry point, is routinely sent back to be refiled correctly.
A name romanised differently across documents
Pinyin romanisation isn't always consistent between a passport, a bank statement and an old visa – a hyphen, a space, or a name split across two fields differently each time. The application has to match the passport's data page exactly, character for character.
Confusing an ADS group tour with an individual application
Group tour visas arranged by a travel agency follow a different process with different documents. This itinerary is built for the individual route, where you assemble your own supporting file.
Dates that disagree across the bundle
Schengen and UK files are read as a set. If the itinerary shows a fortnight, the hotel booking nine nights and the invitation letter ten days, the inconsistency does the talking instead of your application.
Made before the appointment was confirmed
Slot waits at the busier centres run long enough that an itinerary produced too early can show dates that have already passed by the time it's read. Generate it once your appointment date is fixed.
Ticketing the real flight to feel covered
Paying for the actual fare "just in case" usually means a change fee once an appointment shifts, or the fare written off entirely on a refusal. The reservation carries that risk instead. Book the genuine ticket only once the visa is granted.
Questions about your flight itinerary for visa from China
Questions that come up most on files lodged from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and the rest of mainland China.
Do I need to buy the actual ticket as well?
No – the reservation satisfies the evidence requirement on its own, and you buy the airline ticket once the visa is granted. Buying a real fare out of Beijing or Shanghai before your file is decided is exactly the exposure this avoids.
How much does a flight itinerary cost, and is it really billed in dollars?
¥100 one-way, ¥130 round-trip and ¥170 multi-city, whatever the number of sectors on the multi-city document. Extra travellers run ¥100 per adult, ¥70 per child aged 2–11 and ¥35 per infant. These convert the USD prices of $15, $19 and $25 – your card is charged in dollars, so your bank sets the exact yuan figure on the day.
Will a Chinese bank card actually work at checkout?
Yes, provided the card's overseas or international function is switched on – a domestic-only UnionPay card is the most common reason a payment fails here. A dual-currency UnionPay, Visa or Mastercard clears it the same way it would on any other international site.
Does this eat into my annual forex quota?
Not meaningfully. The personal foreign-exchange quota individuals hold is well into five figures in US dollars a year; an itinerary at ¥100 to ¥170 doesn't come close to touching it.
Is the reservation real, or something generated to look like one?
It's a real reservation on a flight that's actually operating. The carrier, flight number, aircraft, routing and times all come from live flight data, and the PDF carries a booking reference and PNR that Order Lookup can bring back up later. It isn't a paid ticket – and a reservation is what most missions are actually asking for at this stage.
How fast will it reach my inbox?
Seconds after payment, typically under a minute end to end. Generating it the same morning as a visa centre appointment works fine.
Which Chinese airport should I search from?
Beijing (PEK), Shanghai (PVG) and Guangzhou (CAN) carry most of the long-haul traffic and sit closest to the busiest visa centres, alongside Shenzhen (SZX), Chengdu (CTU), Xi'an (XIY), Nanjing (NKG) and Chongqing (CKG) in the search index. An itinerary starting outside mainland China entirely is no obstacle either.
Does this apply if I hold an HKSAR or Macau SAR passport?
Not in the same way. Those passports carry different visa-exemption rules from a mainland PRC passport for most of the destinations here, so check your own document's specific requirements before assuming you need this.
Will the visa centre actually check the booking reference?
Sometimes, and that isn't a problem – the reference resolves and the flight is real. What's under review is whether your travel plan is verifiable, not whether an airline has already been paid.
Which Schengen country should I apply through?
Generally whichever member state you'll spend the most nights in, or the first Schengen country you enter if the nights are split evenly. Each one runs its own visa centre network in China, and applying to the wrong one is a common reason files get redirected.
What happens if the visa application is refused?
The fee covers producing and delivering the document, so it doesn't depend on the outcome – that decision belongs to the mission alone. It caps your exposure at ¥100 to ¥170, rather than a real fare out of China that's rarely refundable once a refusal comes back.
Get your dummy flight ticket ready, not the real ticket bought
Search a live flight out of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou or wherever your trip starts, add your travellers, and pay by card. The PDF is ready before the rest of the file comes together – about ¥100, with the real fare waiting until there's a visa to use it for.
Get your flight itinerary – from ¥100