One of the things that was presented during the press conference we attended in Malaysia was the ASEAN Pass. The ASEAN Pass is a set of four prepaid vouchers that would let you travel to up to four Southeast Asian cities served by Malaysia Airlines for as low as US$229 in economy class or US$729 in business class.

Malaysia Airlines’ Airbus A330 that we rode from KL to Manila. Forgot to take a photo before another plane parked right beside it. Pfft.

Of course, the big question is, what’s the asterisk?

You know how those promos always have this asterisk beside the price or the item name with a teeny tiny print at the bottom of the page? The asterisk here is that the US$229 price tag is just the fare — taxes charged by each country is excluded.

So say you’re traveling from Manila to Kuala Lumpur to Jakarta to Kuala Lumpur and back to Manila. Your total fare computation will be something like this:

US$229 ASEAN Pass + US$33.50 Philippine Travel Tax + US$14.50 Malaysia departure tax (KUL to CGK) + US$14.50 Malaysia departure tax (KUL to MNL) = US$291.50

This excludes the tax you would have to pay at the airport in Indonesia. You would also need to pay the Php 750 airport tax when leaving Manila. A rough conversion of the total amount to peso comes to Php 14,000, which isn’t bad considering that this is for four flights on Malaysia Airlines, and not on a budget airline.

With flights from Kuala Lumpur to the following Southeast Asian cities: Manila, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh, Siem Reap, Phnom Penh, Yangon, Bangkok, Phuket, Singapore, Medan, Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Surabaya and Bali, the ASEAN Pass is definitely a tempting deal. Of course, there are other conditions: the first segment of the trip must be confirmed upon booking, while the other three can be open dated. However, if you have settled on a date already and want to have your ticket reissued, a fee of US$25 will be charged for each reissuance. The pass is valid for up to three months, which is especially good for those who want to take their time traveling around Southeast Asia.

The Malaysia Airlines ASEAN Pass is available through the airline’s ticketing offices and appointed travel agents both in Malaysia and in Singapore, Brunei, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Cambodia and Vietnam. For more information about the ASEAN Pass, you can contact the Malaysia Airlines’ booking and reservations hotline at (02) 8873215 (Metro Manila) or (032) 238 1554/1502 (Cebu). You can also visit the Malaysia Airlines website for information and online booking.

Malaysia Airlines Manila
23rd Floor LKG Tower
6801 Ayala Avenue
Makati City
+632 887-3215

Malaysia Airlines Cebu
Bigfoot Center, 2/F-Annex,
F. Ramos Street,
Cogon Central (Ramos),
Cebu City 6000
Philippines
+6332 238-1554/1502

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