Article: How To Fly for 75% Off or Even Free Fly Cheap – Resources   So how does this work? Especially with overseas travel if you’ve ever done it, you’re aware that once you get to your destination you have to go through customs where your baggage is checked through. With cargo however it’s a different story. It can sometimes take a number of hours after the plane has landed before the cargo agents are able to get their hands on it and sort it through. Even express cargo can sometimes take hours before this happens. The reason for couriers is that there are many, many companies who will gladly pay someone the cost of a plane ticket to get their items cleared through customs in an expedited manner. This is all the courier really does. They sell off a certain portion or all of their baggage allotment which goes to the company needing to transport documents or goods. Every situation is different so you really don’t know how much you’re going to have to give up. Sometimes it’s just some paper documents and other times its goods which take up your baggage space. No matter what it is you take though you still have to clear it through customs. This takes a little longer than normal baggage but not that much longer. Legal issues? The first question that invariably pops into someone’s mind, is, is this legal or what if someone sends contraband that I don’t know about? In the first place you’re only dealing with reputable companies that couldn’t stay in business if they were doing that and second you also get to sign a disclaimer that you’re merely acting on behalf of the courier company or airline. In most cases customs agents will have already inspected the goods and will have issued paperwork to go with the items you’re taking with you. Airlines know how much couriers are needed for businesses and as it’s good business for them, you are looked after all the way through. Just remember there are many, many instances for these companies where a few hours mean everything to them and that’s why they are willing to pay for this. It could be something like an important part for a large piece of machinery which is costing thousands of dollars and hour in downtime. It is very much worth it to them to pay for the few extra hours they gain. Paying for someone to courier it through is real small change in those circumstances and those kinds of situations occur way more often than you would think they would. Another example is I heard of someone who had a regular courier route between the US and London and various points in Europe completely free and flying business class. They were carrying semi conductor parts which were so important to the manufacturing lines that the added expense was peanuts for them. They needed an air courier to whisk the items through customs instead of being delayed by paperwork. What happens the day I fly? When you book your flight and an air courier and pay the fare, if you have to, you’re usually given all the instructions that you’ll need. Basically you’ll be told to be at the airport, usually an hour or so earlier than normal, and a representative of the airline or courier agency will meet you there. You’ll be given a manifest of the cargo you’re carrying with you and you’ll be checked through with your personal luggage and extra cargo just like you normally do. That’s pretty much it on the departure side. You don’t ever get to touch the cargo and your only requirement is to simply get on the plane. During flight everything is normal, it’s just a regular flight and depending on where you sit, sometimes you even get to fly first or business class, you get whatever regular passengers get. Once you land, you need to pick up your personal items and the extra cargo from the baggage claim area ( if it’s just documents or a small carry on, just go straight to customs) once you have your stuff head over to customs where there will be a designated area where the paperwork for the freight you’re carrying is processed. This is the worst part of the exchange because it can sometimes take a little while for this to happen. You have to sit and watch the others that were on your flight zip on through before you. Flip side though is it didn’t cost a dime to get there. Once the paperwork is done, you can leave customs. You’ll be given instructions on where to take there cargo once it clears customs or as in most cases you’ll be met by someone who will take it from there. That’s all there is to it and you’re now free to enjoy yourself. On the return flight you rarely will be asked to courier anything back on the return flight so if you want to buy a cheap set of baggage and fill up with shopping it’s totally fine.