Travel Around Southeast Asia
I never thought I would be a person to love Southeast Asia, however, my last few trips to the area have created a deep love and respect for that part of the world. The sights, the sounds, the colors… everything just seems to create a sense of welcome and I can’t wait to return and explore the area some more.
Hoi An, Vietnam
If you find that you will be visiting Southeast Asia in the coming months, you may want to check out AirAsia’s Asean Pass, which is named for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations which includes the countries of Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Cambodia, the Philippines, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. . Initially scheduled to launch in January, the Pass was put on hold after the tragic accident of AirAsia Flight 8501 in December.
Basically there are two Passes available: a ten credit ASEAN Pass which will cost $160 and a twenty credit ASEAN Pass Plus at a cost of $290. The Ten Credit ASEAN Pass allows for ten flight credits and is good for 30 days from the start of travel. The Plus Pass allows for twenty flight credits and is good for 60 days from the start of travel.
Some of the Terms and Conditions:
- Credit can only be redeemed for your base fare.
- Any airport tax and add-ons such as check-in baggage, inflight meals, seats and travel insurance are to be paid separately.
- Each flight will need to be redeemed at least 14 days before departure.
- Each route can only be redeemed once using an AirAsia Asean Pass.
- Travellers must be 12 years old and above.
- Flight redemption is limited and subject to seat’s availability, it may not be available on every flight or day, ie weekend, public holiday and school holiday.
- All GST and taxes are payable only upon flight redemption and not charged on AirAsia Asean Pass
Each route will require a certain amount of credit for redemption, depending on cost, flight duration and frequency. It’s not just that you get ten flights for the ten credits. For example, according to the AirAsia website:
I have to applaud AirAsia for going ahead with the release of these passes. There are just so many things you could do with a pass like this. I wish that it had been available for my last trip! I think I am going to do some research and find out just how long the Pass will be good for in light of travel next January.
More information can be found on AirAsia’s Asean Pass Website here.
What about you? How would the AirAsia Asean Pass help your travel around Southeast Asia?
Temple of the Reclining Buddha (Wat Pho), Bangkok
Great post! For me, the AirAsia Asean pass has been difficult to use due to payment problems and limited routes. I was able to fix the issues with payment (no thanks to AirAsia customer service) but once I was ready to pay there were very limited routes. Many routes that were listed in the table of Asean pass routes on the AirAsia website were not available. I needed KL to Manila but there were no flights in all of April, May and June. I sent a tweet to @AskAirAsia and the next day the route was listed (only one flight very early in the morning, but better than nothing). Not sure if my tweet was what did it. I ended up writing a post on my travel blog about the problems I’ve had so far (and how to resolve some of them) at http://www.yourtravelpath.com/archives/479. Still needing AirAsia to open up the route from Manila to Palawan. Fingers crossed! Keep up the great work!
I’m glad to see that you were able to sort out some of the issues! Thanks for the link to your blog post – I found your analysis excellent! I may just do an updated post about your findings (if you don’t mind).
Sorry to rain on this parade folks…but…I have to first say that South East, in fact all the Asian states are incredibly rich in culture and experiences and a outstanding part of the world to explore, come to know and appreciate…however, not using the Air Asia ASEAN Pass. I have had extensive travel and dealt with many a airline website and representatives and must say that Air Asia has the most frustrating and non user friendly interface. I was able to purchase three passes for visiting family, paid for it with a North American issued visa card but just try to book the legs of travel using the same North American visa card, not gonna happen. The interface allows only internet communication with 5…yes 5 days for each response. Spent 3 hours at the airport in Kuala Lumpur with a Aira Asia Sales Rep who at first didnt even know they offerd the product. Had to show them on the site itself. They after the same three hours became exceptionally frustrated and even called the “IT” folks who told him to lodge a complaint and they would respond in 5 days..when you take this with the 2 week prior booking timeneed and the inability to even speak to someone plus the inability of its own company booking staff at its home airport to address reservations…good luck and hope you do get it straight the first time and did get your booking in but I do think there will be a few issues here
I think, Rick, that what you have experienced is exactly what Joseph experienced in some of his dealings with trying to book these flights. What often seems like a good idea at the time, has obviously turned into a nightmare for some who are trying to use the AirAsia pass. Hate that it worked out that way for folks!