This post was written by David Derrick, Director of Product Development at AirTreks.

There’s exciting news at AirTreks. We’ve just signed a partnership with AirAsia, the leader of low-cost, short-haul flights throughout South East Asia allowing us to use their extensive route network and bargain fares to get you around like never before.

AirAsia revolutionized flying in Southeast Asia by offering reliable service at unheard of prices to and from their hub in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. They have been expanding their routes and destinations steadily. At present they have four airlines under their brand; AirAsia (Malaysia), Thai AirAsia, Indonesia AirAsia and now AirAsiaX and they’ve added hubs in Bangkok, Jakarta, Kota Kinabalu and Singapore allowing for nonstop flights to all sorts of interesting places. Among the most useful to our passengers are Bangkok to Bali, Bali to Perth,  Hong Kong to Borneo, Chiang Mai to Phuket, as well as long haul flights like Melbourne and Gold Coast Australia to Kuala Lumpur, London to Kuala Lumpur.

AirAsia opens up a lot of possibilities for our AirTrekkers. The fares are so affordable, one could add a whole bunch of destinations to their trip without breaking the bank. Or just keep your savings and extend your stay at the beach hut.

Keep in mind, AirAsia is a low-cost carrier. Passengers will need to pay for extras such as checked luggage, meals and pre-assigned seats. But we’re getting used to that aren’t we? Besides, AirAsia’s fees for these are quite reasonable (and their meals look really good!)

Even though they are a low cost carrier, you can expect your experience to be better than many “legacy” carriers. In fact, AirAsia was selected by Skytrax and the World’s Best Low Cost Airline.

Another thing about AirAsia is that their business model is solely based on point to point fares. They do not encourage or support making connections. Let’s say you want to get from Krabi, Thailand to Yogjakarta, Indonesia.  You can do this on two tickets to and from Kuala Lumpur, but you’ll have to allow for plenty of time to connect just in case of delays. Neither AirAsia nor AirTreks can help you if you miss the connection, even if the delay is AirAsia’s fault. The safest bet would be to give yourself a stopover in Malaysia. At these savings you can pay for a good hotel and a blow-out meal.

As far as we know, we are the only Travel Agency in the US authorized to sell AirAsia. This is important because many US travelers have reported problems trying to buy tickets on their website with American credit cards. You won’t have that problem here. Our AirAsia flights must be used as part of your around-the-world, Circle-Pacific or long-haul multi-stop journey planned with AirTreks. Be sure to visit our TripPlanner to start designing your big trip today!