jy3

I came across a few OBC, on board couriers, on the way to a few countries, and was wondering if this job is recommended.
I'm talking about part-time job, and it looked very attractive but I also found out that some immigration agents, usually the agents in the States tend to hate OBC.
Can any one tell me why though? I thought this job was perfectly legal..
Thanks for the help!

TravelerMSY

You don't hear much about them now that global air freight is so fast. Other than state department employees flying with diplomatic cargo as their luggage,

dvs7310

Same, I haven't heard about this for years. I looked at doing it when I was a lot younger but that was also a different time in scrutiny in air travel.

If it still is around, then as I understand it, you're not actually responsible for clearing the "luggage" through customs, so could care less if the US Immigration and Customs service "likes" it or not if you're carrying sn American passport, they can't do anything more than a thorough search. You've got nothing to hide and they've got nothing to find. Budget a bit more time at the connecting airport if you feel more comfortable and be done with them.


There are plenty of people on Flyertalk who are in and out if the US weekly if not more frequently, lots of normal people have jobs like this. You were out of the country for a meeting and that's all they need to know.

zkzkz

A friend in the industry said it does in fact exist and I could get some flights if I wanted. I haven't heard back though. I get the impression it's not a service they sell a lot of and they probably just have one reliable person who's consistently available.

BuildingMyBento

I was an OBC twice--in 2003, from NY to Hong Kong (right as SARS was disappearing), and then in 2005 from Hong Kong to Tokyo.

For the first, I had to give someone documents at both NRT (during a transfer) and HKG) on the outbound. Then, I called the Hong Kong agent a day before I left. That was it. Total cost of the ticket was ~US$400.

Can't recall having to do anything for the second time.

Actually, didn't really think they were still around.

GUWonder

On-board couriers are still around for more than accompanying diplomatically-protected material.

There was a situation within the past year or so where a recognized courier got caught transporting contraband into Washington-Dulles. He was deemed inadmissible after being caught but not prosecuted for being a supposedly unwitting transporter of 9 pounds of heroin.

http://www.loudountimes.com/news/art...les_airport898

B747-437B

Our company uses OBCs sometimes, usually when we have to move AOG aircraft parts faster than a commercial courier can handle (weekends for example).

The notice period is usually a few hours at most and the courier tends to fly right back after arriving at destination (a few hours layover maximum). We use ACS (www.acs.ae/cargo-charter/on-board-courier) to set up our OBC requirements and we are very pleased with them both on pricing and service standards.

Bozza

I have been working as a UK based OBC for 6 months or so. I like it. So far I have had assignments to uk, US & Australia. I get paid a kick off fee, a day rate and an overnight rate. The company pay for flights (economy) and any expenses, eg if I need to hire a car, pay import taxes. I pay for food and hotel accommodation. Being self employed these are legit things to put on my tax return. For the overseas jobs I normally stay a couple of days before flying back. I earn air miles and have to be available at short notice eg able to fly today or tomorrow, and travel only with carry on luggage. Have to be able to think on feet and be able to switch on when very tired, and be a good communicator eg with immigration, customs etc. I always inspect what I am carrying, for safety etc. It's a job though and not like going on holidays. For time and cost reasons the flights may not be the most direct ones and I often get weird routing, but that means for air miles. I suspect my job is much like cabin crew - sounds glamorous and exciting but can be tiring and sometime you just look forward to getting home. Happy to answer any general question though not specifics as I am subject to contractual confidentiality agreement with my employer.

LondonElite

I recently sat next to a guy transporting organs (not the musical instrument) as a freelance courier.

JDiver

Years ago I looked into doing ad hoc courier travel, as I'd occasionally courier whilst in the military. But IMO too many restrictions, insufficient benefits.

Ad hoc couriers who got cheap tickets for their "services" (usually the baggage allowance, which they never actually checked or retrieved,) used to be fairly ubiquitous, but their use has diminished significantly. The use of DHL, FedEx et al, specialized couriers carefully selected for special cargo (diamonds, etc.) have supplanted the large number of ad hoc couriers.

Those like Bozza are known entities and are usually repeat well known pros or semi-pros. Ad hocs generally didn't receive many of the fees and perqs these reliable and trustworthy people get.

Otoh, there are more volunteer couriers for rescued pets, goods for NGOs, etc. but their courier duties are ancillary to their fully bought tickets. E.g. as a lifetime member of South American Explorers I have volunteered to transport goods to one of our Clubs - usually Buenos Aires, Lima or Quito, when I'm going there because I usually travel with carry-on only, but have a usual checked baggage allowance of four 70 lb / 32 kg bags as long as I'm flying a oneworld airline.

crimsonking30

Sorry for awakening this old thread, however I've been signed up to two OBC companies Wings and Time:Matters since November '16 however I'm yet to go on a 'mission' as they like to call it, I've had plenty of offers and I reply instantly however they are all but 1 have been cancelled within a minute of them sending out the availability request and it's very frustrating however I only get offered ones to Rome, Lisbon, Madrid, Shannon, Dublin.
What I find frustrating from Time:Matters is that they always offer me ones from Southampton, Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester despite them knowing I live a 10 minute drive to LHR.

Wings on the other hand are just as annoying, the one which wasn't cancelled they expected me to drive to ABZ within 4 hours! (I live near LHR remember.) to deliver helicopter parts to Norwich. They refused to book flights from LHR to ABZ so I had to turn down their request, since then they seem to be ignoring me.

So I have question about London based OBC's, what OBC company do you work for?

fassy

Can't comment about the situation at LHR but have worked for timematters in Germany and got a lot of decent long haul offers, mostly all across US and East Asia.

True, a lot of the trips get cancelled since the agency puts out the request for a courier as soon as a customer calls. Then after the customer gets the quote, they often enough bail out considering the obscene costs for OBC services.

Anyway, I had the option to do more trips then I had time for. Probably you will need to look for a local OBC agency working out of LHR.

crimsonking30

Thank you for your reply fassy.
I'm aware that Time:Matters is a part of the Lufthansa Cargo so most work will come from Germany, but lucky you for getting US and Asia, I actually got an alert this morning to.....Shannon so no surprises there but I was surprised that it wasn't cancelled I just missed from a pool of other people.

Some of the express international courier companies around Heathrow I've contacted have told me they only have 'in-house' staff to do OBC work, so basically staff working in the offices.
Most of the big companies are based in Germany or at least need more people there.

mandolino

As far as I know, once you get a job and do it well, more work will follow as you develop a reputation for reliability.

The requests for airports that are not near where you live might be on the possibility that you do actually leave home occasionally and might just be in the vicinity.

I must say that when we need to hand deliver some item, we use members of staff or trusted contractors.

Tonight for example, I'm sending a guy to Congo with a toolkit to hand over to our agent, since it's needed offshore urgently as freight can take weeks to clear customs down there. That's not a courier job, since a visa is required. It also helps that this guy has been there before on a job and knows the agent.

In the past we have sent staff on hand carry jobs to California and Thailand. They are not always met at the airport but might have to drive or take transport to some further destination. The job is not done until the part is in the hands of the person who needs it. Our secretary was the one who went to our California office and was shown hospitality and taken on a tour by our staff there.

The warehouseman was the one who carried some pump seals to Thailand and came back with some "interesting" new social media contacts.

In the case of helicopter parts to Norwich, maybe they found a staff member who would do it. You need people who are covered by appropriate insurances etc.

crimsonking30

I understand the need to build up a reputation by doing a good job in regards to work, it's like that in all jobs. It's just the starting point which is the most difficult part of it, it's like when I was a teenager looking for work, no one would hire me as I didn't have experience to do a minimum wage job.

The ones i'm signed up to are always looking for people especially around London but never offer anything except cancelled gigs.