The AirAsia ASEAN pass has been one of the more interesting pieces of news that has come out in the travel hacking community over the past few months. Originally it was announced last November with a launch date of January 2015, but then was delayed by a few months, but it appears to now finally be live
(SEE ALSO: AirAsia offering an unlimited Southeast Asia travel pass)
(SEE ALSO: Update on the AirAsia ASEAN pass
AirAsia ASEAN pass details
The basic idea of the AirAsia ASEAN pass is that for a flat cost, you get . The original press release made it out to seem like it was UNLIMITED travel over a 30 day period, but it looks like the way that it works is that you can buy 10 credits for $160 or 20 credits for $290. The 10 credit AirAsia ASEAN pass is good for 30 days of travel starting with your first flight, and the $290 AirAsia ASEAN pass is good for 60 days of travel. The AirAsia ASEAN pass is good for up to 1 year from the time of purchase, and either way, it is good for flights in the 10 ASEAN countries (Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and the Philippines)
AirAsia ASEAN pass credits
So the flights within the AirAsia Southeast Asia destinations cost either 1 or 3 credits
As an example, Singapore to Bangkok costs 3 credits, while Bangkok to Hanoi is only 1 credit. I assume that it is distance based as to why some routes are 1 credit vs. 3 credits, and I’m not sure why there aren’t any that cost 2 credits :-). The full list of routes and their cost in credits is here.
The hidden costs of the AirAsia ASEAN pass – airport taxes and fees
The fine print on the AirAsia ASEAN pass is
- 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.
- Travelers 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
A few of the big gotchas in there that I see – you still have to pay all the taxes on the flights (which on low-cost carriers can be significant – on a sample flight I looked at from Bangkok to Singapore, the airport taxes were $23 of the $51 total fare). Also you have to plan ahead, since you have to redeem your flight 14 days in advance.
Those airport taxes and fees – they always get you…
(SEE ALSO: Comprehensive guide to European airport taxes and fees)
(SEE ALSO: Comprehensive guide to Caribbean airport taxes and fees)
One other thing to mention is that you can not use the AirAsia ASEAN pass to repeat routes. Specifically – “Each route can only be redeemed once using an AirAsia Asean Pass”. I’m not clear if a route can be traveled more than once if the origin and destination are different – specifically is SIN-CGK (Jakarta) the same route as CGK-SIN? It would seem that you’d be allowed to do both of those with the AirAsia ASEAN pass, but I’m note 100% sure.
Wrapping it up, I can see some value in the AirAsia ASEAN pass if you’re going to be traveling around Southeast Asia, it’s not a slam dunk. With the AirAsia ASEAN pass, you’re basically pre-paying $16 or $48 flights. I am definitely seeing plenty of routes where you can find flights with base fares cheaper than that, so if you’re a savvy booker, you may have better value in just paying out of pocket for each flight that you want to take. The list of route costs and information about the AirAsia ASEAN pass is here, and you can purchase your pass here or redeem flights here.
What do you think? Will you buy the AirAsia ASEAN pass?
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
Hi, I bought for AIRASIA ASEANPASS yesterday. But until right now i didn’t redeem for the ticket yet. when i confirmed for the payment in the end session but appeared UNSUCCESSFUL PAYMENT.always like that. I have tried repeatedly. don’t know why?
Anybody that success for the payment?
yes i bought two one for myself and one for my boy friend. I managed to book my first flight without a problem but trying to book the flight for my boyfriend also gave a “payment unsuccessful (even though no payment was actually required.
apparently you can’t book two same flights within 24 hours. nice if you travel together
in 24 hours the flight might be full
devil in the details
I also had this issue when I got two passes. Make sure that you did not enter the same BigShot ID number into both passes. This will give you the “Payment Unsuccessful” page. Try deleted your Bigshot ID from the pass that you cannot book with. Hope this helps because it took us a week to figure out with no help from AirAsia.
Thanks for the advice! Trying to figure out how to unlink one ASEAN Pass account from my Big Shot acct. This pass has turned out to be a very frustrating ordeal. All the best – and thanks again!
I had the same problem: Payment unsuccessful!. Anyone figured out what happened? Any solution?
Great post, thanks. Also note that some routes are not available once you purchase the pass and try to redeem the credits. For example, I am trying to book flights from KUL to MNL and then MNL to PPS, but there are no available flights in all of April and May for these locations with the ASEAN pass. This is despite these routes being listed in the table of route options.
I bought the pass and saved about 50% on 11 flights with one pass. It is a great deal, if you are flexible with dates and destinations. Unfortunately, AirAsia just increased the prices for domestic Indonesian flights from 1 to 3 (3 to 5) credits, making it more expensive than regular cash fares! I would not recommend it now, if you plan to fly a lot in Indonesia. I posted the details here: http://dreamtravelonpoints.com/2015/04/airasia-increases-prices-for-asean-pass-flights-in-indonesia-the-end-of-a-great-deal/
I contacted AirAsia for comment – can’t wait to hear how they handle the disgruntled people who bought the pass and were planning to use it in Indonesia yet!
Hi All, please drop me an email jayraj22@gmail.com if you need to check the route and dates before buying the asean pass, in this way you will know if its worth buying the pass. there will be a minimal charge for 10 searches. thanks.