Name of company which pay you for taking parcels/bags?
 

The term you're looking for is air couriers, but I have no recommendations for you.

I believe that the air courier business no longer exists.

I think I remember the blog discussion about some new courier like service, including concerns about whether it would put the courier at risk if there were problems with the contents.

Courier travel was common a couple of decades ago and previously. You’d get your travel costs offset or even fully paid for in return for giving the company your baggage allowance, essentially, and transmitting accompanying documents between company representatives at origin and destination airport. That’s pretty rare any longer, and even some years ago courier companies preferred their vetted “regulars”.

Not long ago, a new company, Airmule (link), popped up. Iirc it had a very limited network, mostly Asia, and had packages delivered to one at the airport that one would turn over to a contact on the ground at the other end. The concern many had was that the courier had no idea what you were couriering (some Asian countries offer up to the death penalty for some drugs and weapons) and the company would not guarantee they’d stand behind you.

They don’t buy your ticket - they pay you to carry packages they delegate to you. Years ago I did a bit of courier flying for the US Military. Personally, I’d never take on the risk of signing on with AirMule. “I’m sorry, sir, but xxx was detected in your baggage, and it (is prohibited, is subject to duty); please come with us.” “Yes, we understand someone paid you to transport this as your own baggage. But it’s your baggage, listed on the baggage sticker attached to your ticket.” Etc.

Check Airmule out - but I’d suggest caveat emptor.

This is not a thing anymore.

I think the type of service you are looking for has long changed, and with increased security protocols this is not something that an individual should pursue. Those days where you were being paid to fly half way across the country to deliver documents same day or overnight have long been changed/eliminated with fax, emails, computers. I work in International Logistics and I'm a licensed US Customs Brokers, we have some customers of ours that have what is called "hand-carry" when they are sending a last minute high value parcel and it is usually accompanied by a company employee, we meet the passenger at the International terminal upon arrival and provide the customs clearance formalities allowing the passenger to proceed with delivery of said parcel. We do a lot of E-commerce and this is big business. I myself have also been asked to do "hand-carry" shipments, when our customer has a last minute parcel (must be there ASAP) and we are unable to get a same day cargo booking, but we can take it as part of our luggage allowance on a flight. these customer are called "known shippers" and they have been properly vetted.

I think this was what you read.
https://thepointsguy.com/2018/03/air...ervice-review/

With electronic data transfer, e-mails, etc and with DHL, FedEx aircraft and others circling the globe the need to personally transport small items has almost been eliminated.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FedEx
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DHL_Express

Back in 2004 or so, a customer that I supported had a break in and one of the things that was stolen was a print server computer with several proprietary interface cards and license dongles. I had to make arrangements with the software company for a replacement (and then I had to configure that replacement onsite). For the low, low price of $40,000, the company put one of their employees on a plane in San Diego with our server as a carry-on. They flew up to PDX, took a cab to my customer's location 4 miles from the airport, had me sign for it, and left in the same taxi.

It wasn't until I had the new computer plugged in that I learned that the customer had not ever backed up the configuration (as they had agreed to in the original Statement of Work), so I had to recreate dozens of custom data transforms from memory. I ended up being inside of their building for 40 hours straight.

I can't remember what we charged them for my time, but it wasn't enough

Knew someone who did this London-New York return. They paid a fraction of the ticket price (like 10%). Ended up on Concorde outbound. This was in the early 1980s. Long gone since...

"Name of company which you pay for taking parcels/bags"............FEDEX..........

Fixed it for you. What you're talking about is ancient history.

Yeah, I didn't think this was still going on as well. Years ago I had a GF that routinely flew SFO-SIN-SFO. NOT a pleasant route and no F or Biz class ticket. She didn't mind it as she had friends in Singapore and KL and would visit IF she was allowed. Occasionally the courier company she worked for required a 24 hr turn around.

Not sure why so many are saying this is no longer going on? Why would you think so? I am working as flight courier for three companies in the last 5 years. Work is irregularly, as its very much on demand - about 2-5 times a year, irregularly. So its not like a job or something. More like an opportunity to head to some destination at short (more like very short) notice, get some air miles and get paid a little for your trouble.

All three companies I am registered with work internationally, but require me to pickup mostly from mainland China, or on occasions some other destination. Normally it goes like this:

1. I get an sms, specially when in the middle of the night for a request (Like: "Hi, you free for delivery 2mrw afternoon, PEK-AMS, open return. Call me asap please"
2. If I can and want to take it I call back immediately to work out the details (any choice of airline, how many items, delivered to agent or client, who does custom clearance)
3. I usually travel very light, so I have a bag packed for that purpose actually, so I just try and work out what I can do at the destination, who I could visit, and when I need to be back
4. The logistics company books the flights on my behalf, so I dont have to do that, except in a few exceptions, when it was easier to do for me (domestic China)
5. I head to the airport, meet the agent, take the items with the agent to customs (and I usually ask to see the contents) get the clearance papers and checkin
6. If its only documents, then i just take it as cabin luggage, if industrial parts/computer parts then its often checked-in.
7. I board and fly to destination, and either clear customs myself, or meet an agent at the baggage claim, who takes care of it.
8. If there is no agent, I once had to delivery it across town in Wuhan, nearly missed my outgoing flight, as I didnt want to stick around there on that occasion.

Thats a typical scenario. Now I hear some of you ask, why would a company spent all that money for a flight when there is in fact Fedex, DHL, SF Express, etc... The answer is both simple and suprising. None of these companies offer such a service, as its often highly customised. Imagine you run a fair sized production facility. While producing 20000 units of whatever a day, your controller system malfunctions, and you need a specialised chip or part that is (most often now) manufactured China, Japan, Taiwan (replace with any other country if you like). You now have the choice of waiting 3 days (more if its the start of a weekend/holiday) to have that replacement part. Thats a lot of days of lost production (and perhaps incurring penalties on top for missed deliveries). Hence a courier that costs them perhaps 2000-3000 USD in total is cheap.

Likewise, you may have a important person that needs a new passport, visa, permit, etc or a business deal which needs documents. Anything that is time sensitive, or of great value (or both). Lastly, the most important part if you looking to do this: be a reliable, fast communicator, have an unlimited passport, no travel restrictions, be reachable day and night, and perhaps most importantly, be based in a country that has little English speakers, and strict visa requirements. China is such a place, and I speak some mandarin, Russia would also be a good base, but China is unique in such, that it is also the origin of many products these days.

And, yes, I get paid, but its not much, and some pay by trip, some by days, or items. And before you ask, no - I will not give you the name of the companies, but if you looking for way to get to fly for free, its not much use, as I mentioned before, trips are irregular, and there is no choice where you go. You just choose, yes, or no!

Any more questions, I can try and answer, but I wont get into personal or company details.