My partner and I recently completed, by all accounts, a successful use of the AirAsia ASEAN Pass. This is a quick summary of the trip and a few tips that my fellow travelers can use to make it cost-effective and successful.

For those unfamiliar, AirAsia offers a couple versions of the ASEAN Pass, which allows travel across the AirAsia network through many ASEAN countries. We picked the 10 credit pass for 160 USD, which could be used over the course of 30 days. Flights under 2 hours cost one flight credit, while flights over 2 hours generally cost 3 credits (some Indonesia destinations being 5 credits). All flights must be redeemed at least 14 days before departure. While being marketed to backpackers, the 14-day requirement and the limited seats definitely favor a traveler who has a set itinerary rather than the typical backpacker.

I read some reviews leading up to the trip that many flights were unavailable, and there was no way to check whether or not a specific flight/city pair would be available prior to dropping the $160 on the pass. However, I was able to search and confirm the availability of all my desired flights before purchasing the pass at http://aseanpass.airasia.com/

Mindful that connecting flights were not protected, we generally spent at least 12 hours between flights in case of delays/cancellations (which made me worry from online reviews). We did have one connection at DMK that was only 2 hours, but it was a gamble that paid off well.

Here's a quick itinerary of our 8 flights with a few comments on each:
1) Dec 2 HAN-DMK (Hanoi-Bangkok Don Mueang) | FD 645 | 20:50-22:40 | 1 cr
Departed 20 mins late, arrived 15 mins late, 5 mins immigration, bag already on carousel

2) Dec 3 DMK-CNX (Bangkok-Chiang Mai) | FD 3443 | 8:40-9:40 | 1 cr
Departed 10 mins late, arrived 5 mins late, 3 min wait for bag

3) Dec 7 CEI-DMK (Chiang Rai-Bangkok) |FD 3204 | 9:35-11:10 | 1 cr
Departed 25 mins late, arrived on time, bag already on carousel

4) Dec 7 DMK-HKT (Bangkok-Phuket) | FD 3025 | 13:30-14:30 | 1 cr
Departed on time, arrived 5 mins early, 10 min wait for bag

5) Dec 8 HKT-UTH (Phuket-Udon Thani) | FD 3170 | 14:30-16:20 | 1 cr
Departed 30 mins late, arrived 15 mins late, 5 min wait for bag

6) Dec 11 VTE-DMK (Vientiane-Bangkok) | FD 1041 | 14:45-15:40 | 1 cr
Departed 15 mins late, arrived 10 mins late, 5 mins immigration, 10 min wait for bag

7) Dec 12 DMK-REP (Bangkok-Siem Reap) | FD 610 | 10:00-11:00 | 1 cr
Departed 20 mins late, arrived 5 mins late, 10 mins immigration, bag already on carousel

8) Dec 13 REP-KUL (Siem Reap-Kuala Lumpur) |AK 543 | 8:35-11:45 | 3 cr
Departed 10 mins early, arrived 30 mins early, 30 mins immigration, bag already on carousel

My partner and I were each traveling on a separate ASEAN Pass, which meant we had to book each of the eight flights separately. Once we finished booking, we had 16 different confirmation codes. There is no way that I found to combine passes or book the flights together, so this meant that there was no way to sit together without paying for seats.

7 of the 8 flights had times that were perfect for what we wanted. The only sub-optimal timing was the flight from HAN-DMK. There are only two flights per day, one in the morning and one in the evening, and the morning one that we wanted was unavailable.

Our onboard experience with all 8 flights was fantastic. I am tall (6'3") and was very surprised that I actually had adequate legroom on all flights. All of our A320s were less than 4 years old. All of our attendants were friendly and accommodating. For flights <2 hours, AirAsia has a better product, in my opinion, than the US3. Our bag was always prompt to the carousel and was not damaged... for one flight I even accidentally left an umbrella in the loose side pocket and was surprised that it was still in that pocket when we collected the bag.

We both traveled pretty light, we each had a small backpack as hand luggage and we shared a 20 kg checked bag between the two of us. We paid airline/airport fees of between $3 and $25 per ticket, one checked bag between $5 and $15 per flight, and seat assignments (seats 15A and 16A on most flights since we both like window seats) for $2-4 each per flight.

Booking these 8 flights without the pass 3 months in advance, including one checked item and seat assignments, would have cost around $1100 for both of us. Using the ASEAN Pass brought that total to only $590, a savings of $510 (which goes a heckuva long way in Thailand).

Lastly, a few tips for booking your trip:
1) Plan out your itinerary early and avoid any connections as they are not protected. Check the availability of your flights at the link mentioned above before purchasing the pass. Plan a greater buffer time between flights if there are only 1-2 flights per day from your origin.
2) MAKE SURE the first flight you book with the pass is the first flight you will actually be taking. The first redemption establishes pass validity 30 days from that point, you cannot add any flights that happen before the first flight that you book.
3) Pack your patience when booking flights. You will need to do a separate online transaction for each person, and the system will ask you first to pay the fees. You will then need a separate payment for any bags and additional flight extras. We ended up making 2-3 individual payments on each of the 16 separate itineraries, which caused my bank to shut off my debit card more than once during the process. I ended up booking all of our flights in one sitting, and then added bags and seats later down the road as I had time.
4) Use the mobile app for check-in and boarding passes. It functioned perfectly and was incredibly convenient.
5) Most airport check-ins do not have separate check-in and bag drop lines. Budget enough time to wait in the entire line to drop your bag, even if you have checked in already. Always be mindful of the specific cut-off times for your flights.
6) Purchase trip insurance (from a separate provider) that will allow you to catch back up with your itinerary should something happen along the way.

Bonus:
We flew AirAsia X (D7 200) from KUL-OOL on the evening of December 13. We paid a few dollars extra for the quiet cabin at the front of the plane, and as the flight was not full the quiet cabin was nearly empty. Every passenger in the quiet cabin received an entire row to themselves, which made the 8.5 hour trip to Gold Coast so much better.

These were only 8 of the 24 flights that we have taken on our trip around the Pacific Rim the past couple months, but surprisingly they were some of the best.

If you have any questions or want further advice on planning your trip with the ASEAN Pass, I'm willing to help!