I was planning to go Southeast Asia and have been patiently waiting for a seat sale when my friend introduce me the Air Asia's ASEAN Pass which allows you to travel across Southeast Asia using credits that can be bought for PHP 7000+ (PHP 5000+ if you'll pay in Malaysian Ringgit) which I found it too good to be true. It also seems like there's only limited information available and there are lots of things that should be considered in buying and using the pass.
During my ASEAN trip, I got lots of questions in regards to my flights and how I did use the ASEAN Pass on my trip and so I made this post.
Air Asia ASEAN Pass is a travel pass that allows guests to book Air Asia flights using credits. Depending on how many destination and how long you are planning to visit ASEAN countries. You may choose between 10 credits which will allow you to travel accross Southeast Asia for 30 days or 20 credits for 60 days.
Here are the list of credit amount for routes that are redeamable with Air Asia ASEAN Pass.
Basically, flights under 2 hours requires 1 credit while flights over 2 hours requires 3 credits regardless if you are booking international or domestic flights. Except for Indonesia domestic flights which are subjected to price control and is more expensive, not worthy to be booked using this pass.
And before you purchase one, there are things you should know and consider first such as:
1. Booking of flights should be at least 14 days or more before the departure date. Seats may ran out so if you're certain about your travel dates, I suggest you book as early as possible.
2. You can't book the same path twice.
MNL ✈ KL ✈ MNL ✈ KL is not possible. Once you book the MNL ✈ KL path, you cannot repeat it anymore. The system will automatically disallow you to book the same route.
3. Some destination are only connected to one airport. This means you might have to go back several times on AirAsia hubs such as Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok.
4. Credit is only redeemed for the base fare. Other charges like airport tax and add-ons such as check-in baggage, inflight meals, seats and travel insurance are to be paid separately.
5. Travelers must be 12 years old and above.
6. Flight redemption is limited and subject to seat’s availability. Not all flight timing are available specially during public holidays. Normally, without the pass, many seats were still available for purchase, then when you try to check for available seats using ASEAN Pass, there are no seats available for that day which is kinda frustrating. Make sure you plan ahead and have the list of dates and destinations on hand. Do mock booking before confirming each flight.
7. Rescheduling trips are possible which is subjected to additional fees however re-routing is not possible.
8. Make sure to alot 3-4 hours in between flights. This is to make sure you'll have an ample time getting your baggage, passing through immigration and transferring from one gate to another.
List of countries you may visit using AirAsia ASEAN Pass:
Note : Every AirAsia member can buy up to 5 ASEAN Pass at one time. You may assign each pass to yourself or your friends upon purchase. Each pass is valid for 1 year from the date of purchase and once booking is made you must travel within 30 or 60 days starting from the 1st travel date.
1. Log on to your AirAsia account or visit this site: http://www.airasia.com/ph/en/book-with-us/asean-pass/overview.page
Price is PHP 7,200 for 10 credits and PHP 12,000 for 20 credits.
Tip: Buy in Malaysian Ringgit as it cost cheaper at MYR 499 ( PHP 5754.49 conversion is at MYR 1 = PHP 11.53). Just change the currency as shown below:
2. Choose the type of pass you'd need depending on how many places or countries you would like to visit.
3. Proceed to payment options.
How to redeem flight:
1. Assign Passenger Name to the pass. You may book on behalf your friends & family. You may also reassign the pass until the first flight booking. The first booking must be the first flight as the system will use the first booking's travel date to calculate the validity of the pass. Booking is at least 14 days before the date of departure.
3. Choose the route & time ( Not all flight times available )
** Availability around weekends and local holidays are very limited.
4. Once flight time is confirmed, review & proceed to payment for airport charges and add ons.
6. Repeat the process for your next route
Here's my trip itinerary:
Manila 
Kuala Lumpur Ho Chi Minh (1 credit) 
Cambodia (by bus) Bangkok (by bus) 🚆 Laos (by train) 🚆 BanBangkok (by train) Mandalay (1 credit) Bangkok (1 credit) Jakarta (3 credits) Singapore (1 credit) Malaysia (by bus) Manila (3 credits)
Kuala Lumpur Ho Chi Minh (1 credit) Cambodia (by bus) Bangkok (by bus) 🚆 Laos (by train) 🚆 BanBangkok (by train) Mandalay (1 credit) Bangkok (1 credit) Jakarta (3 credits) Singapore (1 credit) Malaysia (by bus) Manila (3 credits)Total Credits : 10
If you'll notice, I mixed and matched ASEAN pass tickets and cash tickets (flight and land travels). With this you will have greater value for the money and since I went there during Songkran, very limited flights are available.
For a grand total of PHP 10,895.67, I was able to fly to Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, and Singapore; a total of 6 flights for the ASEAN Pass itself which from during that time, considering it's new year on those countries it would have cost me about 32,715.94 PHP for that 6 flights.
For the whole computation with the land travel and other transportation costs, it will be up on my next post together with the itinerary.
How to Maximize the Value:
1. Pre-plan your route including the dates and write them down, that way you'll be able to track how many credits you have left. Mock book (don't book just yet) on Airasia site making sure that all of them have flights available on the dates you wanted. Then once you have checked that all flights are available on your desired date and plotted all the adjustments on your itinerary, you may start booking using your pass.
2. Plan the routes that requires 1 credit instead of 3 credits. There are times you can mix and math two 1 credit flights instead of getting one 3 credits.
3. Travel light! You don't want to spend lots of money for check in baggage, you might even pay more for your luggage than yourself. AirAsia allows one carry-on up to 7kg and a personal item (camera, laptop).
Comment or message me if you have any questions :)
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