Be an air courier

[sharkbait 0]

This article is from the May 2008 edition of Holiday Which. I found the website rather unhelpful, as it did not give any further details at all beyond referring you to the phone number. If anyone has any luck with this (good or bad!!), let us know.

 

"If you are looking for a cheap air fare, you can have a discounted long-haul journey if you are willing to be an air courier on a British Airways flight.

 

In exchange for carrying documents relating to cargo in the flight's hold, you get an economy class seat at a substantially discounted price. For example, when we called in mid-March, return flights were available to Bangkok or Tokyo in mid-May for a cost of £320 (including all taxes and charges) - a significant saving on the cheapest normal price of approximately £548.

 

The drawbacks are that there is not a great deal of flexibility in the dates and times of flights available, plus there is only one courier seat per available flight, so you have to travel alone or pay for another ticket if you have a travelling companion.

 

For more information about becoming an air courier, log on to www.baworldcargo.com. For further details of couriers currently needed, call British Airways on 0870 320 0301."

[bigdelta 46]

Courier flights have been available for over 40 years.Back then,they were free.Gradually,the cost to the courier has increased to the current level.Ususlly you do not have a baggage allowance,only carry on.

There are/were 2 courier associations with a tremendous amount of info available.

Edited August 15, 2008 by LTGTR

[Sybarite 1]

In exchange for carrying documents relating to cargo in the flight's hold

What happens when you land at Bangkok and they find documents relating to dodgy cargo in your sweaty little mitts.

[jacko 8,815]

Alternatively you can carry a small 'package' for 'Carlos', a nice polite swarthy gentleman in a white suit and Panama hat and hand it to 'George' at the other end, a very polite West African man and he will give you some money!

 

I certainly wouldn't trust BA though!

Edited August 13, 2008 by jacko

[NorCalKid 1]

I would also be interested in these flights. But all the info I have found on them has been crap. I was looking into SFO-MNL but the flights weren’t too cheap. I don’t think there are too many of these flights left in the US. Between 9-11 and electronic documents I think these flights are becoming a thing of the past.

[Emil 0]

I heard about these couriers about 10 years back. What I heard was that you were on their schedule both going and return. Now if some courier service would pay me to carry some stuff for them ( at a reasonable cost) then I would be interested. Since I'm at a higher frequent flyer level I could carry more weight than your average traveler.