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Doan Linh Chi in Hanoi booked return tickets to Qingdao with Shandong Airlines for an April 12 departure.

But one week before the trip, she was informed that both her flights had been canceled.

The airlines advised her to postpone the trip until May because all its Qingdao services in April had been canceled.

Unable to cancel her hotel reservation, she chose to wait for a refund from the airline and paid an additional VND300,000 (US$11.38) to book on Shenzhen Airlines.

But the new itinerary included an 11-hour layover in Shenzhen, shortening her Qingdao sightseeing by nearly a full day.

Chi’s experience reflects a broader trend that is annoying Vietnamese tourists traveling to China.

All over Chinese travel forums and social media platforms, travelers complain bitterly about the numerous last-minute cancelations and schedule changes by airlines.

Travel companies lament the disruptions are creating major difficulties for them ahead of the busy summer holiday period.

Flight disruptions between Vietnam and China first emerged in March, with many airlines announcing cancellations and reductions in frequency until June.

A Ho Chi Minh City-based travel company said Sichuan Airlines had canceled 12 flights on the HCMC-Chengdu route in May and June.

Juneyao Air cut nearly 20 flights between the city and Shanghai in June.

Pham Anh Vu, deputy general director of Du Lich Viet Company, said several Chinese carriers serving destinations such as Lijiang, Shanghai, and Chengdu had pared their schedules by at least 50% from April.

They blamed it on the rising fuel prices, he said.

Since early April, his company has been forced to change departure dates, reroute flights or alter destinations for a dozen outbound tours groups.

It has also temporarily suspended tours to Lijiang and Zhangjiajie because of increasingly unstable flight schedules.

Nguyen Ngoc Tung, director of Hanoi-based Danh Nam Travel, said 90% of charter tour groups to China had been canceled from this month, especially on newer and niche routes.

But services to traditional destinations with steadier demand like Beijing, Shanghai, and Jiuzhaigou have seen fewer disruptions.

Luu Thi Thu, deputy director of Hoang Viet Travel, said the Hanoi-Fenghuang charter route with seven to eight flights a month saw all of them canceled in May and June, forcing the company to refund customers.

To cope with the rising fuel costs, airlines have increasingly consolidated passengers from low-demand flights onto peak-hour services to improve occupancy rates, while also imposing higher fuel surcharges.

Industry insiders said charter tours, often marketed as low-cost travel packages, are especially vulnerable because they rely heavily on subsidies from Chinese authorities.

As airline operating costs rise, those subsidies are no longer sufficient to offset expenses.

According to Chinese outlet Travel Dailythe latest wave of cancellations in April mainly targeted international routes to Southeast Asia and Japan.

Rising geopolitical tensions around the Strait of Hormuz pushed crude oil prices higher, forcing airlines to reduce operations to cut losses.

More than 50% of flights between China and Japan in March were canceled.

In China, the domestic cancellation rate had reached 15.1% by mid-April.

Though airlines introduced additional fuel surcharges, they reportedly covered only 20-30% of the actual fuel expenses because airlines were reluctant to raise fares by too much.