$443 Find Cheap Flights from China to California - Compare and Save

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KAYAK's insights & trends for flights to California

Get data-powered insights and trends for flights to California to help you find the cheapest flights, the best time to fly and much more.

What is the cheapest flight to California?

The cheapest ticket to California from China found in the last 5 days was to Los Angeles, at $625 round-trip. The most popular route is Guangzhou (CAN) to Los Angeles (LAX) and the cheapest round-trip airline ticket found on this route in the last 5 days was $625.

How much is a flight to California?

A flight to California costs $1,113 on average. The cheapest price found on KAYAK in the last 2 weeks was $533 for the route Guangzhou (CAN) to Los Angeles (LAX). The most popular routes on KAYAK are Shanghai to Los Angeles which costs $1,329 on average, and Beijing to Los Angeles, which costs $1,452 on average.

See prices from:

What is the cheapest month to fly from China to California?

The cheapest month for flights from China to California is November, when tickets cost $453 (return) on average. On the other hand, the most expensive months are August and July, when the average cost of round-trip tickets is $856 and $796 respectively.

How far in advance should I book a flight from China to California?

To get a below average price on the flight from China to California, you should book around 5 weeks before departure, which saves you about 30% compared to booking last minute. For the absolute cheapest price, our data suggests you should book 12 weeks before departure.

Which is the cheapest airport to fly into in California?

Prices will differ depending on the departure airport, but generally, the cheapest airport to fly to in California is Los Angeles Airport (LAX), with an average flight price of $833.

Good to know

Low season

August

Cheapest flight

$443
Best time to beat the crowds but there is an average 33% increase in price.
Most popular time to fly and prices are also 5% lower on average.
Flight from Dalian to San Francisco

Flights from China to California: the best tips from KAYAK users

Insights shared by verified travelers who flew the route from China to California 
Verified travelerFlew with Air China-Mar 2026
Only tip, eat before boarding the plane, Airline food, not just Air China, has become worse over time. Air China's food was better prior to the pandemic.
Verified travelerFlew with China Southern-Oct 2024
Wear comfy shoes it is a long flight. If you can try to get a window seat cause the middle seat is super uncomfortable. But the flight is amazing and even though it is a long flight I had fun
Verified travelerFlew with Sichuan Airlines-Aug 2024
1. Make sure the passport information has been correctly recorded with the ticket, otherwise you will not be able to pass custom/security at China. Ticket purchased overseas often misses such info. 2. Arrive at the airport early. 3+ hours would be my recommendation.
Verified travelerFlew with China Southern-Jun 2024
Monitor flight information closely in case unexpected cancelation. Other than that, everything was good.

FAQs for booking flights from China to California

  • How does KAYAK find such low prices on flights from China to California?

    KAYAK is a travel search engine. That means we look across the web to find the best prices we can find for our users. With over 2 billion flight queries processed yearly, we are able to display a variety of prices and options on flights from China to California.

  • How does KAYAK's flight Price Forecast tool help me choose the right time to buy my flight ticket from China to California?

    KAYAK’s flight Price Forecast tool uses historical data to determine whether the price for a flight from China to California is likely to change within 7 days, so travelers know whether to wait or book now.

  • What is the Hacker Fare option on flights from China to California?

    Hacker Fares allow you to combine one-way tickets in order to save you money over a traditional round-trip ticket. You could then fly from China to California with an airline and back with another airline.

  • What is KAYAK's "flexible dates" feature and why should I care when looking for a flight from China to California?

    Sometimes travel dates aren't set in stone. If your preferred travel dates have some wiggle room, flexible dates will show you all the options when flying from China to California up to 3 days before/after your preferred dates. You can then pick the flights that suit you best.

  • What is the cheapest day to fly to California?

    Based on KAYAK data, the cheapest day to fly to California is Tuesday where round-trip tickets can be as cheap as $1,150. On the other hand, the most expensive day to fly is Sunday, where round-trip prices are $1,326 on average.

Reviews of the top 5 airlines serving from China to California

 
Need help choosing which airline to fly with from China to California? KAYAK airline reviews give an overall score for each airline based on loads of factors, including comfort, boarding, in-flight entertainment and more, to make your decision easier. See airline scores according to verified KAYAK customer reviews.
8.1
Asiana AirlinesOverall score based on 559 reviews
8.5Crew
8.0Comfort
8.3Boarding
7.6Entertainment
8.0Food
Airline reviews

Food could be better it was okay. Entertainment seems dated it was something but in this day and age could be a lot better.

8.0 ExcellentAnonymous, Mar 2026
Read more Asiana Airlines reviews

Food could be better it was okay. Entertainment seems dated it was something but in this day and age could be a lot better.

The aircraft was massive (A-380) and became crowded with 400+ passengers on board.

Coming back to America was a peaceful flight everyone and everything was perfect

Flight was too cold. I wore a regular cotton tee and it wasn’t enough. It was a night time flight so I would have thought a blanket would be provided to passengers. A 4 hour flight and no options for a meal? I flew Asiana the next day from Seoul to Manilla. Same duration, 4 hours. They give everyone a pillow and blanket and serve a meal. Why is United so cheap and holding back meals and amenities? Also, they promote too much gay stuff and DEI in their advertisements. Please be mindful of other beliefs and don’t shove your gay ideology down my throat.

Staff always with a smile and very helpful with my mom who has mobility issues.

The seats felt very small. We were supplied with pillows and blankets, which was nice. Lots of noise from the bathroom, plus exterior noise. Made it hard to hear the entertainment system, even using my own noise-cancelling headphones. The food was really bad. I generally request a vegetarian meal and one was supplied, but the pasta was cold and hard and there was nothing pleasant about it. Two meals were served on this flight; one was a repeat of the meal I had had on the flight immediately preceding this one, which was bad enough I didn't even try it. Drinks were very limited. All I wanted was water, and on a 10.5 hour flight, I was given 3 cups of about 3 ounces each.

We took business class, It was comfortable and I was able to sleep.

The legroom in economy was better than other airlines. Since my legs are long, that means a lot. Also, the A380 from Los Angeles to Incheon gave passengers a smooth ride. Everything went smoothly from boarding to disembarkation in Incheon. I'd fly Asiana again!

The flight attendant, where kind of rude, there where hiding for almost 3 hours, without doing rounds to see if people needed water or pickup the water cups, the toilets were full of water cups, because they never come back to pick them up.

Amazing service and fabulous syaff. Loved the jumbo jet too, comfortable.

They overbooked the flight and reassigned my seat. To add insult they lied that my assigned seat was broken and promptly gave it to someone else

Jain veg meal I opted was super in taste but there was no sweet/desserts with it. I was a big missing in the meal...Please add some sweets to end the meal with 😊

The meat-and-rice combination was a good idea, but the food could use some improvement. The meat looked a bit mushy and almost like ground meat, which wasn’t very appetizing, and the flavor was just average. Other than that, everything else was great.

My boarding experience was so bad. While traveling from LA to HYD, the boarding was smooth. But the boarding experience from Hyderabad to LA was utterly poor and unprofessional and caused lot of anxiety and stress. Even though we were at the airport Boarding well in advance to accommodate for Immigration and Security Check, Cathay Pacific Boarding On Ground Crew has done a very unprofessional job. It is one thing to follow rules, but being inconsistent and not being able to communicate this clearly is wrong. I was not aware that my laptops weight in my backpacks is also counted against the cabin baggage. While coming from LA to HYD, the ground boarding crew didnt ask for this. They just checked the Cabin bags weight. But at HYD, not for everyone, but for some people they enforced this. Our Checkin Luggage was carefully weighed at home and was accurately measured to 23 kg, Now they asked to move all the weight in our Backpacks where most of the weight is from Laptops and tablets for each family member, I need to accommodate this ~10kg from 6 laptops in to one of the suit cases and pay extra for excess baggage at the airport boarding place. Without a weighing scale how can I accurately move all the items from cabin baggage to one of the suitcase. D Venkatesh is the guy who enforced this. But I dont have a problem with the rule enforcement, but the way he guided us in solving the problem. I was willing to pay the extra money for the extra weight. He told me that the 32 kg excess baggage is allowed with 150 USD. I understood that 32 kg is extra on top of the 23 kg chickin baggage. SO I pushed all of them to one suit case and then when I took this suitcase, I was sent back saying that he meant the total as 32kg but not the excess should be 32 kg, I had to go out of the line make these changes without a scale thrice like this. They literally harassed me. Noushad his manager was sneering at us. When I said, I am going to complain about this, my wife heard him saying some bad words in Hindi. You get one chance to harass your customer. I will never board Cathay Pacific again.

I’ve flown 2 better Asian airlines in the past year.

Seat is too small. Food selection is limited and often ran out of selectable item.

The staff from beginning to end we're friendly and helpful. The food and beverages were quite good (but see the comment below). I also liked their entertainment options, as we'll as their frequent attention to the airplane restrooms. Here are the reasons this is not a 5-star review: - You have to pay for WiFi on the plane unless you have some level of seat upgrade. - CP sent me a warning that the name I entered to book didn't match my passport. True, but the form for entering my name didn't allow for anything but a middle initial. This lead to a lot of chats, phone calls and stress before finding out at the ticket counter that it didn't matter. CP has modified their notice to now tell you this key bit of info. - After consuming a chicken dinner they offered (Kathmandu to Hong Kong), I developed symptoms entirely consistent with salmonella, beginning about 6 hours later. There were some odd things about the serving of this meal, too. Our row was the last one served, and we were given a tray without the entree on it. About 10 minutes later the stewardess came by and said they only had one chicken meal left. My seat mate and I decided he would have the lamb and I would take the chicken. I think I lost. I suspect that this entree was left over from an earlier flight and they were scrambling to get the last row fed. My seat mate and I were the last two to receive our entrees. I am not accusing CP of giving me a contaminated meal - just that the onset and progress of symptoms closely match those of salmonella poisoning. I opted out of the first meal on the next flight 13 hours later, but was fine after that.

The worst experience ever! Lots of flight delays and rerouting that ended up doubling the total time. . I had to recheck my luggage because I was rerouted to Tokyo and ended up on ANA flight. I missed connecting flight twice because of the delay at Cathy Pacific. Additional stop added, rerouted to a different country for connecting flight and ended up in long waits and delays.

I liked the service. The touch screen needs improvement as well as movie choices.

My only suggestion is a way to not be woken up for food. … like maybe something you can place on you if you’d prefer to miss food than be woken up

Poor seats. Not helpful crew. The food was awful.overall very very bad experience. Traveled with the family of 5

did not get a notification about seat selection ahead of time. We didn't end up sitting together.

Overall I had good experience with China Southern airline. Nothing to claim. I hoped they could improve the meal quality that is.

The connection between LA and Atlanta was too much stress

Not good - chair back could not move back for premium economy. Not worth the price

It was okay. Boarding the staff made you feel rushed like we were late or something

Never got the wheelchair service when my parents arrived at LA . My mom was 74 , also my dad was 84 years old, both don’t speak English. I double checked with the front desk at Phoenix airport, making sure that they will be taking care of.

Flight canceled, but they didn't notify me. They arranged a nearby hotel and 4 meals for me to stay for 24 hours before I could board.

Had some luggage loading delays but it was still a good experience

Traveling with the Chinese airlines , their service superior to the US Airlines , they are much more friendly and the seats are comfortable , In the past I flew with United , now ,United Airline will become history for me .

The app logs you out right when you are boarding requiring all passwords and reservation number for the flight. Super annoying

The pre-order only approach for fresh food is really challenging

the seat has a problem. the back had a hole.

Old 757 with poor entertainment system. United no longer partners with United for free text and email. O'Hara an absolute disaster! Limited gates clauses two hour delay. Unfortunately this appears to be the norm.

The entire experience convinced my wife, Cathy, and me that traveling Polaris on United is the only way we’ll fly in the future. From check-in and baggage drop to the end of the 12-hour flight, the customer service was exceptional, with numerous staff members exemplifying the very best in care. On board, Andre, our primary crew chief, was sincerely friendly, a consummate professional, and, along with Freddy, one of his team members, truly among the best of the best. The captain even came through the cabin to chat with passengers—a wonderful personal touch, especially on such a long journey.

The SFO lounge closes at 12 midnight. My flight took off at 2AM

Delayed 2 hours while stuck on the aircraft. If the luggage was properly loaded the first time we probably wouldn’t have been delayed at all

Flight be on time would be a good start. Then train your flight attendants to be attentive and friendly. This time they completely forgot my row for the measly snack! United, do better!

We boarded the plane and were about to take off when we were notified that the tires had to be checked. Upon inspection, they were found to need replacement, so the entire plane had to be deboarded. After we exited the plane, United staff forced us to stay in the gate area by posting "Do Not Exit" signs on the doors connecting the gate area to the terminal. Many of us had already rebooked our flights and had no checked bags, but they told us we could not leave. This seemed inappropriate to hold people under false pretenses. When the agent told us we could leave, I asked them to please take down the "Do Not Exit" signs, as they were misleading. The agent refused, and I told them that it didn't feel right to hold people like that.

Beijing PEK to SFO. I had an economy seat on this flight. The seat comfort was acceptable. My main complaint is with the FA’s lack of personality and absence from servicing the plane, specifically restroom care (I wish I could share a pic of the restroom that I captured) and care of travelers—drink cart/availability of drinks. I'm amazed at the level of service on other International travel where a passenger is most often appreciated.

Weren’t even given earphones to use the entertainment system

Very friendly and attentive flight attendants, good food service. Seat was comfortable. However, the in flight electronics were poor. The screen froze repeatedly; the controller died; the headphones are a hit or miss; the wifi wasn't usable. Very scarce communication before the flight (no email reminder). Almost impossible to understand in-flight communications (audio was very poor).

The meals were not the greatest and lacking of appetite but everything else was spot on

Overall, excellent: check-in, boarding, service, and food. The Business Class seating is a little less private and spacious than the world's premier airlines, but still very good for a long haul flight.

On time. Friendly and helpful flight attendants. The plane was clean. Having a wine available would have been nice.

Your staff was exceptional. Could teach the other airlines-rules on etiquette, and service. Excellent landings on flights, carried out by your pilots. Only complaint is long delay on return flight in Beijing, onto Vancouver.

Worst than I expected, crew was not attentive, meal was as disgusting , they didn’t even drink selections as they would to other passengers. I felt discriminated

cannot get seat information for LAX to IAH when check in in XI,AN

UA is ok. But check in was a very bad experience

I hate that you cannot check in online and when you are at the airport, there aren't any aisle seats left. Also, they could work a little on subtitles for their movies (not everyone is a native English speaker).

Everything you need to know for your flight to California

Cabin class types available on flights to California