Originally Posted by
tfar
I am quite amazed at the story of traders who do that all the time. I didn't even know it was possible to check in 30-40 pieces of luggage for a single person. How do these people handle customs and how do they handle picking up their bags at the claim? Quite interesting.
They have arrangements with customs. The more legitimate ones are registered as commercial importers. The shadier ones simply bribe their way through.
Some airline crews (Cubana and Air Zimbabwe come to mind primarily) are well known for this activity as well. I remember one day when a porter wheeling a cart with ~20 suitcases came up to the Cubana crew checkin desk at Gatwick. That was just for the captain!! There were over 100 bags between the entire crew. Thankfully the IL96 had plenty of space!!!