Air Asia Unlimited Pass Review

We purchased Air Asia’s unlimited (Thailand domestic) pass on 1st July 2020. It cost us 2999 THB (96 USD) Below are our experiences as we wander Thailand thanks to this rather special opportunity.

Updated 5 March 2021:

Air Asia’s Unlimited Flight deal is here again make sure you read the fine print – here are our experiences from 2020 and yes we have rebooked again in 2021. Come fly with me!

What is Air Asia’s Unlimited Pass?

This unlimited pass allows us to travel on unlimited Air Asia flights between 20 July – 17 December 2020.  This excludes some pretty hefty blackout periods (October is fairly limited!) Full details and terms and conditions can be found here

DOING OUR THAILAND FLIGHT RESEARCH

We bought the pass after checking out domestic travel experiences with both Vietjet and Air Asia. Of the two airlines, we preferred the customer service and flying experience of Air Asia to Vietjet. This gave us the confidence that we were happy flying domestically within Thailand at present and to go for it booking the unlimited ticket.

For more information please see: What it’s like to fly domestically within Thailand during Covid-19

One of the points we note here is that Air Asia has a policy of offboarding passengers three rows at a time. This becomes superfluous when you then all get on a bus to drive to the terminal but in general, we like the thought and COVID planning of this Air Asia gesture.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

There are some important rules to be followed.

• You need to book 3 weeks ahead.
• You cannot alter or change your booking and you are only allowed 3 no-shows, after which your ticket is cancelled.
• A one-way ticket is costing us either 100 or 50 Baht in Airport Tax. However, after adding on a payment processing fee and baggage if you want to carry more than 7 kgs (I’m becoming the master of travelling light!) This usually adds almost 1000 Baht.
• We reduce our payment fee by paying by bank direct debit and no credit card.

Our flights:

What was interesting was that although we intended to book mostly off-the-beaten-track Thailand locations, because of the need to plan ahead and not change bookings, we initially booked to return to some old favourites – Krabi, Chiang Mai etc to ensure they happen.

There is a feeling that things could potentially close down very quickly for us again (fear of a second wave) and the need to prioritise travel

Bangkok – Phuket 

Dates: 31 July – 6 August 2020

• No social distancing on a bus out to the aircraft at Don Muang.
• Phuket Airport was very efficient with its social distancing and Thaichana style registration.
• Departed and arrived for both flights on time, with baggage.
• Onward bound – one seat free in our row, return flight lots of space!
• Outward bound flight time change.

Bangkok – UDON Thani (Nong Khai)

Dates: 7 – 9 August 2020

• No social distancing out to the aircraft at Don Muang
• Departed and arrived for both flights on time, with baggage.
• Both flights full – no social distancing on board.
• No social distancing on the exit of the return flight at Don Muang, even with 3 rows exiting at a time. Passengers were very keen to exit quickly to get home after their weekend away.
• Both flight times were changed.

NOTE! The Airline has COVID Protocols in place but as time goes on passengers are relaxing their social distancing more. 

This was a good weekend we hired a car and went to Nong Khai really enjoyed exploring a new part of Thailand.

Bangkok – Chiang Mai

Date 26 -31 August 2020

• Changed my outward flight for a longer trip – 1st No show!!!
• An eventful trip as I left my wallet at home – See Little Wandering Dippy Wren
• Departed and arrived for both flights on time, with baggage.
• Both flights were full – no social distancing on board.

In accordance with the AirAsia Unlimited Pass Terms and Conditions; Passengers are allowed up to three (3) no-shows. In the event a passenger exceeds the number of no-shows permitted, Thai AirAsia shall have the right to cancel/forfeit their AirAsia Unlimited Pass entirely including any future flight(s) booked and/or confirmed, without any liability on the part of Thai AirAsia.

It was too risky to go home and collect my wallet and gain another no-show so I travelled without my money or a credit card!

Bangkok – Krabi

Date  12-20 September 2020

• Departed and arrived on time, with baggage.
• Both flights are full – no social distancing on board.
• No return trip taken  – 2nd No Show

Loved this trip, staying at Rayavadee, Railay Beach and our first visit to Koh Phi Phi. See Trash Hero Koh Phi Phi

Collected my second no-show as was invited to attend a media trip for Thailand Village Academy.

BANGKOK – KHON KAEN

Date: 2-4 October 2020

• Computer glitch registered my flight as booked before payment and would not let me rebook. Air Asia online support was poor. The matter was resolved through the helpful counter staff at Air Asia counter at the departures at Don Muang Airport
• Departed and arrived on time, with hand baggage only
• Both flights full – no social distancing on board.

Wouldn’t especially rave about Khon Kaen, it was nice to be in a city that doesn’t rely on tourists and everything was operating as normal. There were some nice parks and enjoyable weekend but won’t rush back.

BANGKOK – SURAT THANI

Date: 16 -18 October 2020

• Departed and arrived on time, with hand baggage only
• Love Air Asia hand luggage travel (saves money!)
• Both flights full – no social distancing on board.

Travelling with hand baggage usually means I’m going to buy something liquid that we can’t take home. this time it was homemade jams and marmalade where we ended up posting it just in case it didn’t pass the liquid test.

This weekend we hired a car and drove to Khao Sok National Park, two hours drive – a fabulous weekend.

Nan – Bangkok

Date: 6 – 9 November 2020

• Departed on time, with hand baggage only (nearly had a problem with my hand luggage!)
• The flight was full – no social distancing on board.

I love Nan and can thoroughly recommend it’s the stunning countryside and the laid-back lifestyle. From December there are 10 flights a day to Nan, so it is no longer the hidden escape but well worth it. See previous trip notes: Weekend Wanders in a Nan Wonderland

Beware the No Show

THIRD NO-SHOW: I was a no-show for my flight to Nan as I was invited to attend a TAT 3-day Elephant Care Tourism trip in Lampang and Chiang Mai. I ask Air Asia to cancel my ticket with no penalty (to avoid my third no-show) to support my work with Elephants and Thai tourism. No one was able to help – despite the elephant being the Air Asia logo! However, I did confirm that you can have three no-shows and only on the fourth no-show is the flight cancelled.

Wren’s Tip for Customer Service!

With the AVA online support being of no help in these circumstances, I drove to Don Muaeng and spoke to the lovely AIr Asia Sales Team who despite not being able to assist (they are not from the Unlimited Pass team) were at least the friendly face of Air Asia.

The value of the Unlimited Pass

I took a taxi from Chiang Mai to Nan, which cost more than my Unlimited Air Pass for all these flights! Because I’d been away on a media trip then my weekend in Nan I was overweight on hand luggage, luckily when I started talking elephants they waved me through!

Bangkok – Ubon Ratchathani

Date: 27 – 29 November 2020

Reminder received: You are allowed to carry 1 cabin bag and 1 small bag on board. The weight of both bags must not exceed 7kg. To avoid overweight charges at the airport, pre-book your baggage in advance.

• Departed and arrived on time, with hand baggage only
• Love Air Asia hand luggage travel (saves money!)
• Both flights full – no social distancing on board.

Really enjoyed our night at Bliss Hotel and day in Ubon. There is a fabulous Wat Phrathat Nong Bua temple took an overnight trip to the two coloured rivers at Khong Chiam and enjoyed the rock cave paintings and mushroom rock at Pha Taem National Park – expensive BHT 400 Foreigner rate only. Will go back to explore this area some more.

Bangkok – KRABI

Date:  December 2020

Finding flight availability in December was problematic, even 6 weeks before. I have purchased the outbound flight to Krabi, the return flight is the last on my golden ticket.

TOTAL COSTS

My Unlimited Air pass cost BHT 2999

I took fifteen flights to nine destinations: Phuket, Nan, Krabi (twice) Khon Kaen, Surat Thani, Ubon Ratchathani, Chiang Mai, and Udon Thani costing between BHT 50 -100 per flight. The baggage and admin booking fee was additional.

The issues faced: 

It is hard planning ahead but we have found this is necessary as flights are becoming full for this ticket, especially in December.  As we have bought two separate tickets we need to log-in separately to book and pay, we only have one internet banking log-in and so have had a situation where one of us has booked the last ticket on the 9.15 am flight to Chiang Mai in a month’s time, only to find the ticket gets withdrawn as full at the payment stage for the second ticket a minute later – argh.

SEAT SELECTION 

The other issue is that we don’t like to pay for our seat selection which is randomly generated. So far at Krabi and Don Muang, twice the staff have manually overridden the seat selection at the airport where we are allocated seat miles apart, but it takes a lot of “can I please speak to the Supervisor” effort and they are reluctant to do this

If we check in early enough online, so far we have been allocated seats across the aisle from each other, but remember this is a budget airline and you would expect to pay for seat selection.

FREQUENT FLIGHT TIME CHANGES

Booking at least 3 weeks ahead we have found that 75% of our flight times have been changed. We understand that this is a fact of life in the current world, but it does mean that flexibility is the watchword.

REFUND ON NO-SHOW TICKET

I was able to claim the tax back on my unused no-show tickets – it is a minimal amount. To do this again I asked the Air Asia ticket desk at Don Mueang airport to assist with the claim, I was not successful with my claim via AVA online support.

Dear Guest, We’re pleased to inform you that your refund request to your credit account is successful. You can check the balance and details by logging in to your BIG Member account.

CUSTOMER SERVICE – AVA SUPPORT

Three times I have sought help from Customer Service. Online support both by e-mail or by AVA chat is long-winded and unproductive. Every time frustrated by the lack of response I have resorted to resolving the problem by driving to the Air Asia office at Don Mueang Airport for help.

Air Asia always asks for feedback :

‘We always strive to provide excellent customer experience to our guests and want to make sure that we meet your expectations. To better serve you, please tell us about the service that you have received so far.”

What we like about the Air Asia Unlimited Pass:

• The ability to plan to visit some new destinations within Thailand.
• The opportunity to revisit some old favourites Thailand destinations.
• The opportunity to share the love of our Thai spending around Thailand.
• Flying in and out of Don Muang, Bangkok is so easy!
• So far with the flight paths empty, and aircraft stacking waiting to land, a distant memory, every flight has departed and arrived on time, or even early.
• All our bags have arrived and promptly (there is no waiting around the luggage carousel these days!)
• When I left a bag at the Air Asia departure gate in Krabi, this was found, flown and returned to me the very next day – a brilliant Lost and Found  Air Asia Customer Service.

What we would like Air Asia to consider changing:

• The ability to combine two Unlimited Pass tickets onto one booking
• Stop cramming so many people onto the buses to get to the plane (be more aware of social distancing)
• The blackout periods are a bit extensive!
• Booking the ticket is not intuitive, or easy. You need to generate a single-use booking code,  it’s a  ‘we need to psych ourselves up for it’ process! Can you simplify this?

Final Thoughts:

Air Asia’s Unlimited Pass for Thailand domestic travel is a great idea. It’s a really good value if you use it. It has really encouraged us to taste the unheralded parts of Thailand.

The world (ok Thailand) is our oyster and we thank you Air Asia. We are thoroughly enjoying this opportunity. We’re off to great places, today is our day!

Woo hoo – they noticed from Air Asia!

You’ve been really goin’ places the past 12 months – go, you! Because you’ve hit the minimum amount of flights, you’re getting bumped up to Gold status!