Learning how to find a cheap flight to Tibet can save you a big amount of money on the tour. Below are some of the practical advice on the cheap flight ticket booking for traveling to Tibet.
1. The cheapest time to book flights into Tibet is the winter months, from November to next February.
There are two main reasons for this situation. First, winter is the off season of Tibet travel. The demand for flights into Tibet plummets to the lowest level. Second, the domestic tourists shrink dramatically as well in January or February because these are the times when the Lunar Chinese New Year (or Spring Festival) usually fall in. Han Chinese, making up around 90% of China's entire population, has the tradition of going back home and celebrating the Lunar New Year with their families. Therefore, very few of them would travel to Tibet to have vacation during this period.
The lowest price of a single trip flight into Tibet in January, as an instance, is only 200 RMB, an equivalent of 29 dollars.
2. March is a good time for booking flights that departing during the period from April to October.
A well-known saying is that purchasing a flight 52 days to 3 month and a half in advance is the best timing to snap up a good deal of flights, which applies in China too. April is when the tourism of Tibet rejuvenates each year, because the climate becomes warmer and milder for outing. As the demands increases, the airlines would raise the price accordingly.
3. Try to avoid booking the last-minute flights in summer or the first week of October, as this is the high season of Tibet tourism.
The busiest time of Tibet travel is in July, August, September and the first week of October (a week-long public holiday nationwide). After this period, there's a trend that airfare decreases.
4. Check the flights from Chengdu or Chongqing into Tibet.
These two are the main air travel hubs in China's Southwest region. With numerous domestic air routes, Chengdu and Chongqing often provide cheap domestic flights. Meanwhile, there are more than 10 flights between Chengdu/Chongqing and Lhasa every day. Plus, international flights to Chengdu and Chongqing are also commonly fraught with good deals.
5. For long-haul flights into Tibet, such as those departing from Beijing or Shanghai, cheap tickets are rare.
In such cases, you can break down the air travel into several connecting flights. Or, you can make the travel to Tibet by combining air travel and train travel. There are many combinations you can make if you're fortunately flexible with dates and times.
For instance, the traveler can take a discounted flight into Xining first, and then take a train from Xining to Lhasa. Or you can fly into Chengdu first and then transfer to Lhasa by taking another plane from Chengdu.
6. The only international flight into Tibet is from Kathmandu, Nepal.
A single trip flight from Kathmandu to Lhasa, the regional capital of Tibet Autonomous Region is often priced from 200 dollars to 500 dollars. Booking the international flights into Kathmandu 3 months or even further ahead is a good way to nail down a cheap ticket.
7. The gateway cities in China offer frequent and cheaper flight.
The flights to Tibet from the most popular gateway cities always have better prices, and they are Kunming (in Yunnan Province), Xining (in Qinghai Province), Xi'an (in Shaanxi Province), Lanzhou (in Gansu Province), Chengdu (in Sichuan Province) and Chongqing (the municipality in Southwest China).
There are also few flights to Tibet from some less popular cities like Nanjing, Hangzhou, Fuzhou, Hefei, Yinchuan, etc. But the prices are higher.
8. Go for budget airlines such as Lucky Air, West Air, etc.
The budget airlines usually have better prices for the flights to Tibet. For example, if you fly from Chongqing to Lhasa, the airfare from West Air can be 15%-20% cheaper than other air companies. Nevertheless, the budget airlines don't provide free baggage allowance. 7kg carry on luggage is a norm. But you can pay extra for checked-in baggage. And purchasing the check-in baggage in advance on the website of the airline is much cheaper than paying at the airport.
9. To have a delay insurance before flying can also come handy.
If you're taking a flight served by budget airline, you'll find the insurance fee provided by the airline is often more expensive than the normal airlines. You can buy travel insurance with delay insurance included from many online travel operators.
10. Apps and websites for flight booking that we recommend.
1) Skyscanner(multilingual)
2) Expedia(multilingual)
3) Ctrip(multilingual)
4) Qunar(Chinese)
5) Alitravel (Chinese)
When requested, GoToTibet.com can help our clients to book domestic flights into Tibet. If you book the Tibet tour with us far in advance, hopefully we might be able to save some serious budget on the airfare for you.
