Fuel surcharge increases, and long-term products like "airline ticket vouchers" are selling well.

Domestic route fuel surcharges will be raised—how will it affect flight bookings in the near term?

The reporter saw on social media that many netizens said, “Buy all the tickets you can before the price goes up,” and even someone has already purchased tickets for the full year of 2026 in advance. Platform data also confirms this trend: currently, flight bookings for the “May Day” holiday are up nearly 20% year over year. At the same time, during visits the reporter also found that innovative products suitable for long-term planning—such as flight ticket exchange vouchers and “stay whenever you like” options—are attracting a large number of young consumers, thanks to their flexible mechanisms of “can be purchased anytime, refunded immediately upon expiration,” as well as their advantage of being unaffected by expectations of rising fuel surcharges.

Researcher at a big data institute of an online travel platform, Shi Ke: Judging from the growth rate of advance bookings, during the “May Day” period, the flights to Wenzhou, Ningbo, Guangzhou, Nanning, Hefei, Shanghai, Yining, Shenzhen, Zhengzhou, and Xishuangbanna saw the fastest year-over-year growth, with increases all exceeding 25%. The number of travelers who have locked in “Golden Week” tickets has clearly increased, and it is expected that next week, the number of travelers booking “May Day” and summer tickets will continue to rise.

This year’s Qingming holiday, combined with spring break for primary and middle school students implemented in multiple places, has led to a noticeable increase in flight bookings. Data show that as of April 1, in the Yangtze River Delta region, the number of domestic route flight bookings for the Qingming holiday exceeded 580k tickets, up about 22% year over year. Among them, the popularity of traveling to Chengdu to see flowers and enjoy spring scenery has soared, with flight bookings doubling compared with the same period last year. Besides popular domestic flower-and-spring trips, taking advantage of the pleasant spring weather to travel abroad is also a choice for many people. As of March 27, during the Qingming holiday, flight bookings for international and cross-border routes in the Yangtze River Delta region had already exceeded 170k tickets, up about 15% year over year.

In response to consumers’ “ticket hoarding” behavior, industry insiders remind that if an itinerary has not yet been finalized, it is not recommended to buy tickets as a preventive measure. If the itinerary changes, the ticket refund fees may end up far exceeding the money saved, resulting in a net loss.

Professor Shen Han from the Department of Tourism at Fudan University: According to data from some online travel platforms, the number of orders for domestic flights booked more than 30 days in advance has grown more than 30% year over year. This is a reminder to consumers not to blindly hoard tickets and purchase tickets, to view some so-called low-price channels on the market rationally, and to prevent being scammed. It is best to buy tickets through official channels of airlines on major online travel platforms.

Editor/Wang Haozhou