Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a data packet sending method and apparatus, and relate to communications field. The method includes: receiving, by an SGW-U, a data packet, and matching context information of a corresponding bearer according to a tunnel endpoint identifier (TEID) carried in the data packet; sending a trigger message to a serving gateway for control plane SGW-C if the SGW-U determines, through matching, that the SGW-U does not include the context information of the bearer, where the trigger message carries the TEID, and the trigger message is used by the SGW-C to obtain the context information of the bearer according to the TEID; receiving a reestablish bearer context message sent by the SGW-C, where the reestablish bearer context message carries the context information of the bearer; and sending the data packet according to the context information of the bearer.