Every year, AirAsia does a big song and dance about the latest iteration of their Unlimited Travel Pass, which allows holders to fly all they want for a fixed price.********
Yes, the ******** is warranted, because like all deals that sound too good to be true, this comes with an awful lot of caveats attached.
Case in point: this yearโs AirAsia Unlimited ASEAN Pass, which is now on sale till 31 March 2024. The PR campaign is in full flow, with the usual assortment of paid shills waxing lyrical about how amazing it is.
And look, I donโt doubt that itโs theoretically possible to save a big chunk of money with a Pass. But I think itโs crucial that you go in with both eyes open. So in that spirit, hereโs my attempt to highlight all the fine print you wonโt find in the marketing fluff.
Overview: AirAsia Unlimited ASEAN Pass
The AirAsia Unlimited ASEAN Pass is available for purchase till 31 March 2024, or while stocks last.
The price is S$388, with a S$16 discount if you use BigPay (a further 5% early bird discount was available from 22-24 March, but thatโs over now).
The Pass is valid for international travel (you canโt use it for domestic flights) between 1 May 2024 to 30 April 2025, between the following countries:
- Brunei
- Cambodia
- Indonesia
- Laos
- Malaysia
- Myanmar
- Philippines
- Singapore
- Thailand
- Vietnam
โ Typo? |
Thereโs what I suspect is a typo in the AirAsia press release, which says that โUnlimited โ Asean International Pass passholders can redeem their flights for one year from the pass date (eg: 25 March 2024 โ 25 March 2025) and travel from 8 March 2024 onwardsโ This directly contradicts whatโs found in the FAQs and T&Cs, which give the travel period as 1 May 2024 to 30 April 2025 regardless of when you buy your pass, and Iโm going to go with that. |
Flights can be on any of the AirAsia Group carriers, namely:
- AZ: AirAsia
- D7: AirAsia X
- FD: Thai AirAsia
- QZ: Indonesia AirAsia
- Z2: Philippines AirAsia
The fine print
I obviously donโt expect AirAsia to highlight this in their publicity blitz, but itโs important that anyone considering a Pass is fully aware of its limitations and gotchas.
These are the main ones I spotted.
You still pay taxes and surcharges
The AirAsia Unlimited ASEAN Pass only waives the base fare. You will still need to pay taxes and fuel surcharges, which can represent a substantial portion of the total ticket cost.
Hereโs an extreme (but valid) example. Consider this one-way flight from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur in May 2024, which prices at S$70 on the AirAsia website.
Notice how the base fare is zero. All AirAsia makes from this flight is the fuel surcharge (S$4.80), and the rest of the money goes to the airport or government (S$65.20).
This is a great deal if you donโt hold a Pass. But if youโre a Passholder, I imagine youโll feel rather bummed out that youโll need to pay S$70 for this flight, exactly the same amount of money as someone who didnโt shell out for a Pass.
Like I said, itโs an extreme example, but even so, with low cost carriers the base fare tends to be a relatively small proportion of the total ticket cost. Hereโs another case of a June trip to Bali, where the base fare comes up to just S$51.60 out of a S$294.37 ticket, or 18%.
And of course, youโll need to pay for add-ons like checked baggage and meals, so donโt be surprised if you still end up paying a lot for your โfreeโ flights.
Flights must be booked 14 days in advance
All flights with the AirAsia Unlimited ASEAN Pass must be booked at least 14 days in advance.
Itโs not a deal breaker in and of itself, but reduces the ability to use the Pass spontaneously (e.g. water pipe burst in the office and we all need to work from home this week!).
Blackout dates apply
Your AirAsia Unlimited ASEAN Pass will not be valid for travel during the following blackout periods.
Period | Holiday | Affected Carriers |
30 Oct to 4 Nov 2024 | All Souls/Saints Day | AirAsia Philippines |
19 Dec 2024 to 5 Jan 2025 | Christmas and Year End | All Carriers |
24 Jan to 3 Feb 2025 | Chinese New Year | All Carriers |
27 Mar to 6 Apr 2025 | Hari Raya | AirAsia, AirAsia X, Thai AirAsia, Indonesia AirAsia |
10 Apr to 20 Apr 2025 | Songkran | AirAsia, AirAsia X, Thai AirAsia, Indonesia AirAsia |
15 Apr to 22 Apr 2025 | Holy Week | Air Asia Philippines |
As expected, these are the peak periods for travel, the time when the Pass might come in the most handy.
You can only hold two bookings at a time
AirAsia Unlimited ASEAN Passholders can only hold two confirmed unflown PNRs at any point in time. These can either be one-way or round-trip bookings.
This is referred to as a โFair Usage Policyโ (a term more synonymous with telco plans than unlimited flight passes, where the whole idea is more usage- I guess โfairโ depends on your point of view!), and is illustrated below.
If you try to book another itinerary using the Unlimited ASEAN Pass while you already have two unflown PNRs outstanding, youโll receive an error message.
Restriction on same-day usage
AirAsia Unlimited ASEAN Passholders are allowed to have two trips on the same day, but the trips cannot be from the same departure location.
I donโt think this will be an issue for most travellers, but it does mean you canโt visit Penang in the morning, return to Singapore, then fly to Bali in the evening, in case that was your plan.
Three strikes policy
AirAsia Unlimited ASEAN Passholders are allowed up to three no-shows throughout the validity period, after which the Pass will be forfeited.
I have no issues at all with this policy, since inconsiderate use deprives other people of seats.
Of course, you need to remember that AirAsia flights cannot be cancelled, so the most you can do is to make changes to dates and flights, for which a fare difference fee may apply. You should be fairly certain that youโre going to travel to the place you book with your Pass, or else youโll use one of your three strikes.
Itโs unclear how good seat availability will be
Perhaps my biggest concern is that itโs unclear just what kind of availability Passholders will get, or what fare class these seats book into. The press release says that โavailability of the free seats is dependent on supply and demand on a particular routeโ, but doesnโt specify anything beyond that.
Put it this way: I donโt think you should expect last seat availability, and I can imagine itโd be frustrating to see seats available for sale on the website, but none available for redemption with your Pass.
What about the other perks?

In addition to the flights, the AirAsia Unlimited ASEAN Pass comes with:
- Up to 50% off AirAsia Hotel bookings, capped at RM50
- 5,000 AirAsia points (worth about S$11)
- One free airport transfer with AirAsia Ride to/from KLIA airport, up to RM80
- Unlimited RM2 discounts for AirAsia Ride e-hails
โUp to 50% offโ hotel bookings is attention-grabbing, but note the โup toโ, the discount cap of RM50, the fact that the hotels must be outside your country of residence, and the fact that hotel prices on AirAsia may be inflated compared to other OTAs or booking direct.
The 5,000 AirAsia points are fine, theyโre worth about S$11 which I suppose you could see as an indirect subsidy of the Pass cost.
The free airport transfer is only valid for rides to and from KLIA, and while I understand the cap of RM80, harder to understand is the minimum charge of RM59. Also note that you need to make your reservation at least 18 hours in advance of arrival, so itโs not a โget there and doโ thing.
All in all, none of these extra perks really move the needle for me.
FAQs and T&Cs
You can find links to FAQs and T&Cs for AirAsia Unlimited ASEAN Pass below:
My take on the AirAsia Unlimited ASEAN Pass
By buying an AirAsia Unlimited ASEAN Pass, youโre basically locking in all your regional travel to AirAsia for the next year. You effectively give up the freedom to pick other carriers whose schedules and prices might better suit your plans (I mean you still can, just that youโll feel quite sian youโre not utilising your pass).
Iโm certain there are power users out there who will mange to milk every last cent out of the Pass, and if youโre one of them, go right ahead. However, the casual user is likely to find it too restrictive and time-consuming to plan their travels in a way that lets them turn a profit on their Pass, after opportunity cost is taken into account.
So proceed with extreme caution, and donโt be surprised if your actual savings are smaller than expected.
Conclusion
AirAsia has launched the latest iteration of its Unlimited Travel Pass, which offers unlimited flights within ASEAN for a year.
Buy it if youโre sure you have a game plan for recovering all your upfront costs, and then some, but speculative purchasing should be discouraged. Youโre still on the hook for taxes and surcharges, thereโs a 14-day booking window, blackout dates apply, you can only have two bookings at a time, and only AirAsia knows just how many seats theyโre releasing for bookings using the Pass.
Itโs a hard pass for me.
AirAsia offered these before. Does anyone remember what they used to cost last time around?
Malaysia version is (2022) RM668, (2024 now) RM1188, about 80% increase. Should be similar to SG version, i.e. S$210+?
thank you for this!
Not really about the ASEAN pass per se, but in the extreme example above, is AirAsia making a loss with $0 base fee? Can the fuel surcharge cover the cost of flying 1 passenger to KL? Or theyโre hoping that the passenger will add on baggage / meals etc?
correct- the hope is that the passenger will purchase additional services onboard where the airline has an opportunity to earn some margin, or maybe books hotels/insurance for their flight
Considering it only covers airfare, say S$30 per trip (Bali example above is 20+), it requires passholder to take 13 such flights just to break even the costโฆ a bit crazy
They wonโt lose money.
The business works like buffet. There will be some big eaters, and some small eaters.
Not all will maximise their purchase.
They have made money from your subscription of the pass, apart from you buying add-ons.
And not forgetting, the flights available for you are basically those low peak period.
The pass last year was much better as it included domestic flights โ effectively allowing you to depart from senai and transfer at klia
Aaron, I was sitting with visa card in grubby paw ready to pay 8888 baht for Unlimited ( what is not clear)
And then I read your review.
You are such a party pooper .
But like it says in the classics, every party needs a party pooper
hi Aaron,
I come to this page and checking the offer. on item E-1 it said: โฆ on direct international flights operated by AirAsia, withinโฆ continue with: For avoidance of doubt, the Flight Benefits shall be applicable only to direct international flights, and not including any multi-city and/or transit flight.
This pass is ONLY for direct flight! Are you forgot to list this in the limitation for this article or itโs not an issue at all? Just curiousโฆ
regards
How annoying, I see they unveiled another ASEAN Explorer pass that includes domestic.
You could pay a little extra May 1 โ 7 to upgrade to it but they never sent an email so I missed being able to do the upgrade. Thanks AirAsia!
In fact I never even got an email confirmation of buying the pass itself. Iโve had a few of these now and they usually pay back pretty good, especially on the DMK-DPS route works out to half off.
Do not make the same mistake I did and bought the Pass. So far, I have found very limited availability with seats, you have to book at least 2 months in advance to find any seats. In addition, I did a comparison for using the Pass for a flight to various cities vs just anyone booking the same flight, you might save $5 to $10. But here is the kicker, you will be on the sight for hours trying to find any days that are available to use the Pass. So you put the cities in, the dates, and youโฆ Read more ยป
Itโs a total RIPOFF, do not make the same mistake I did and buy the ASEAN Pass. Theyโre very, very limited seats, in most cases you have to book 2 months in advance to even find a seat. I compared using the Pass vs. just booking the same flight on AirAsia site, less than a dollar difference. Travelocity was $6 cheaper than using the pass. And I used several different dates, times, etc and NO financial benefit. Total RIP OFF!!!
Itโs a waste of money. I bought a pass last year and I was never be able to book one flight. Always no seats available for the dates i wanted to book.
I should have read your article earlier before buying it, but too late for regret.
I am a frequent flyer, almost 3 times a month, and I only manage to redeem 1 time in a whole quarter. 99% of the time, not available even if itโs more than 14 days, or even 1 month ahead. And availability check although shows flights available, actual booking shows not available. and timing is very restricted.
Conclusion: Itโs kind of a scam. A Strong DO NOT buy.
This is like a scamโฆvery limited or barely any seats availableโฆtony gimmick againโฆ