Many travelers use round-the-world tickets to save money on global itineraries. A lesser-known air travel hack is the regional air pass, which airline alliances use to offer discounted travel in one country or geographical region such as the Star Alliance Japan Air Pass, or the “Visit South America air pass” offer by the oneworld alliance.
Below you’ll find a round-up of popular air passes around the world, and how to use real-time prices to determine whether they actually save you money.
Airline Alliance Air Passes
oneworld Air Passes
With member airlines like American, British Airways, Japan Airlines and Qantas, the oneworld alliance’s global network is hard to compete with. oneworld organizes its air passes based on the region you want to visit, rather than the airline itself. You’ll book a “Visit North America” pass, for example, rather than an American Airline air pass. oneworld airpasses offer zone-based pricing that depends on the distance of individual segments, based on market flight prices between a given pair of cities.
SkyTeam Air Passes
SkyTeam, meanwhile, whose most prominent carriers include Delta Air Lines, Air France-KLM and Korean Air, offers both country and regional air passes, depending on your travel plans. For instance, the “Go Africa” air pass allows for travel across the African continent, while the “Go Russia” pass is specific to Russia, and is offered in partnership with Russian Skyteam member airline Aeroflot. SkyTeam is less transparent about its air pass pricing than oneworld, and refers prospective purchasers to contact their local airline with specific inquiries.
Star Alliance Air Passes
While individual Star Alliance airlines still offer regional or country air passes (Japanese member ANA, for example, offers a “Japan Airpass” you can book directly with its reservations agent), it now officially directs interested travelers to its “Book and Fly” tool, the same one you use to plan round-the-world itineraries. While some travelers will enjoy the more specific, transparent nature of this tool, others will prefer to fixed pricing structure Star Alliance air passes used to offer.
Other Air Passes
Some airlines that are not members of large alliances offer their own air passes, although these are usually geared toward travelers who already have a specific country or region in mind. Emirates’ Arabian Airpass, for example, offers discount travel within Gulf Cooperative Council (GCC) countries, as well as the Arabian peninsula and the Levant region. Virgin Australia offers the PlusPass to allow travelers who fly to Australia on the carrier to explore it at discounted rates.
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Reasons Not to Use an Air Pass
Air pass rules and regulations can make using an air pass unattractive, even if you’ll ultimately save money. For example, the majority of airlines and airline alliances require you to fly one of their partners to your destination in order to use the air pass—you need to fly a oneworld carrier to South America in order to use the “Visit South America” pass, and so forth. Because certain carriers can be significantly more expensive than others, such rules could offset savings you might enjoy otherwise.
Additionally, unlike rail pass programs such as Eurail and Japan Rail Pass, air passes aren’t simply hop-on, hop-off, and they don’t offer unlimited travel over a certain period of time. They’re most flexible than ordinary tickets, this is for sure, but depending on just how flexible you need to be, you can still face fees for changing a particular flight too close to departure, and might also be subject to restrictions on availability.
How to Compare Costs in Real Time
Once you’ve determined a skeletal itinerary for your trip (for instance, knowing that while in China you’ll need to fly the Beijing-Shanghai, Shanghai-Xi’an, Xi’an-Guangzhou and Hong Kong-Beijing routes), consult the airline or alliance whose air pass you want to use to see how much you’ll pay. Then, use one of the hacks on offer at Skyscanner (such as the “Whole Month” tool, if your dates are flexible) to see which option is actually more affordable in your case.
The Bottom Line
We hope the air pass pros and cons we’ve presented in this article, as well as a run-down of the basic air pass options currently available, will help you choose the best air travel option for your next trip. As is the case when considering a round-the-world ticket, flying on an air pass isn’t necessarily the cheapest or most convenient option—it all depends on the specifics of your trip.
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About the Author | ||
|---|---|---|
 | Robert Schrader Leave Your Daily Hell Robert is a writer and photographer who’s used air passes on several continents. When deciding whether he should, however, he calculates savings (or lack thereof) down to the dollar, and hopes you will too. | |
