Every so often, the wayward adventure traveler still asks me whether or not its possible to fly courier. That is, a company pays for your plane ticket and you transport an article for them as your checked luggage. They save on shipping and you get to fly somewhere. If you’ve ever seen EuroTrip you know what I mean.
The topic has been discussed ad nauseum across several travel forums, but I’ve never seen a consolidated post about why it’s implausible. Yes, implausible. In fact, damn near impossible. Our friends over at Airfarewatchdog.com have created a very comprehensive post on the topic discussing the fabled fares out there and the companies that claim to deal in them these days.
Fact of the matter is that these days the market is too competitive (both in the airline and the shipping sectors) to support any sort of margin for courier fares. Couple that with added security measures in the last few years and it’s best to just keep an eye out for travel deals. Luckily you have people like George and me for that.