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> What many may not realize is that there's a thriving industry in sending passengers on planes for the sole purpose of them taking things from A to B. So som

> What many may not realize is that there's a thriving industry in sending passengers on planes for the sole purpose of them taking things from A to B. So someone out there must have made a courier-as-a-service website for this? Sign up some people to be on standby, with a passport and a list of countries they have visa for, list them with their current location. Person signs up to potentially make a few grand if they get the call. Firms who are in need of a person throw in the money and the tickets. Does that work? If I need something carried by a person from London to NYC today, what do I do?

stavros 5y ago
Pay the flight attendant.
gumby 5y ago
Yes those services exist though usually you want to send your own employee, typically a junior one.
chiph 5y ago
Delta Airlines has their DASH service. Under 16 ounces, anyone can ship with them. Under 100 pounds, you will need to be a known shipper with the TSA. It's available on basically any regularly scheduled flight of theirs. We used it on a contract job in Tennessee once, to get a replacement UPS sent. Expensive, but worth it.
- bdavis__ 5y ago
  all airlines have something like this. it used to be called "counter to counter"; drop off and pick it up at the airport. my story, about 1988. we had a system in Omaha with a broken power supply (it was big, say 6U, custom voltages). there was a spare in Rapid City, and downtime was charged by the hour. no problem, took the spare in a box to the airport. they told us it was too big for counter to counter; but a ticket could be purchased and it would be put on the plane. No, problem. "Give me a coach ticket to Omaha." "Sorry sir, those are all sold. We do have a first class ticket available." "In that case, OK" The box went in the cargo hold.
CPLX 5y ago
It’s a whole industry it’s called freight forwarding, and this specific thing is the cargo division of commercial passenger airlines.

stavros 5y ago

Pay the flight attendant.

gumby 5y ago

Yes those services exist though usually you want to send your own employee, typically a junior one.

chiph 5y ago

Delta Airlines has their DASH service. Under 16 ounces, anyone can ship with them. Under 100 pounds, you will need to be a known shipper with the TSA. It's available on basically any regularly scheduled flight of theirs. We used it on a contract job in Tennessee once, to get a replacement UPS sent. Expensive, but worth it.

bdavis__ 5y ago
all airlines have something like this. it used to be called "counter to counter"; drop off and pick it up at the airport. my story, about 1988. we had a system in Omaha with a broken power supply (it was big, say 6U, custom voltages). there was a spare in Rapid City, and downtime was charged by the hour. no problem, took the spare in a box to the airport. they told us it was too big for counter to counter; but a ticket could be purchased and it would be put on the plane. No, problem. "Give me a coach ticket to Omaha." "Sorry sir, those are all sold. We do have a first class ticket available." "In that case, OK" The box went in the cargo hold.

CPLX 5y ago

It’s a whole industry it’s called freight forwarding, and this specific thing is the cargo division of commercial passenger airlines.