China’s three largest carriers moved swiftly on Monday to cushion passengers from deepening disruption on China–Japan routes. Air China, China Eastern and China Southern simultaneously announced that tickets issued on or before 26 January 2026 for travel between 29 March and 24 October can now be rebooked or refunded free of charge. The waiver had previously been limited to the winter timetable ending 28 March.
Behind the extension is a dramatic spike in cancellations: flight-tracking portal Flight Master puts the January cancellation rate on mainland–Japan services at 47.2%, with 49 entire routes scrubbed for February already. Airlines cite a cocktail of factors – a spate of earthquakes in central Japan, a sharp rise in petty-crime incidents targeting Chinese tourists, and a foreign-ministry advisory urging citizens to defer non-essential trips. With China’s nine-day Spring Festival holiday approaching, carrier call-centres have been inundated with change requests from families and corporate travellers alike.
![Air China, China Eastern and China Southern extend free refund window for Japan flights]()
For travellers scrambling to reroute plans or switch meetings to Seoul, Bangkok or Singapore, VisaHQ can take the pain out of the paperwork by arranging urgent visas for alternative destinations and managing any updates to Chinese documentation. Its online platform (https://www.visahq.com/china/) walks users through embassy requirements in minutes and keeps corporate travel managers fully informed of status changes—saving time when every hour counts.
The waiver applies to both point-to-point and transit itineraries and covers all fare types, including group and promotional tickets, provided rebooking is completed within the original ticket validity. Travel-management companies say the move will save multinationals tens of millions of yuan in change penalties and will allow them to redirect regional meetings to Seoul, Bangkok or Singapore – destinations now topping mainland booking charts for February.
For the airlines themselves, analysts see the policy as a defensive play: by encouraging voluntary changes they can smooth load factors on the reduced programme and avoid no-show wastage. Ancillary revenue is likely to take a hit, but cash preservation is judged more critical amid volatile demand. The episode underscores how quickly geopolitical and safety perceptions can reroute Asian travel flows – a risk factor mobility managers will need to price into 2026 budgets.
Behind the extension is a dramatic spike in cancellations: flight-tracking portal Flight Master puts the January cancellation rate on mainland–Japan services at 47.2%, with 49 entire routes scrubbed for February already. Airlines cite a cocktail of factors – a spate of earthquakes in central Japan, a sharp rise in petty-crime incidents targeting Chinese tourists, and a foreign-ministry advisory urging citizens to defer non-essential trips. With China’s nine-day Spring Festival holiday approaching, carrier call-centres have been inundated with change requests from families and corporate travellers alike.
For travellers scrambling to reroute plans or switch meetings to Seoul, Bangkok or Singapore, VisaHQ can take the pain out of the paperwork by arranging urgent visas for alternative destinations and managing any updates to Chinese documentation. Its online platform (https://www.visahq.com/china/) walks users through embassy requirements in minutes and keeps corporate travel managers fully informed of status changes—saving time when every hour counts.
The waiver applies to both point-to-point and transit itineraries and covers all fare types, including group and promotional tickets, provided rebooking is completed within the original ticket validity. Travel-management companies say the move will save multinationals tens of millions of yuan in change penalties and will allow them to redirect regional meetings to Seoul, Bangkok or Singapore – destinations now topping mainland booking charts for February.
For the airlines themselves, analysts see the policy as a defensive play: by encouraging voluntary changes they can smooth load factors on the reduced programme and avoid no-show wastage. Ancillary revenue is likely to take a hit, but cash preservation is judged more critical amid volatile demand. The episode underscores how quickly geopolitical and safety perceptions can reroute Asian travel flows – a risk factor mobility managers will need to price into 2026 budgets.
