gail

Long-range planning again for when dtr will be in South America for 6 months. Shipping rates UPS/FedEx are so high as to be not possible (about $300 for a 20 pound package). Wondering if airlines let private individuals ship something - a box, a suitcase, etc and how that works. Not able to find info on AA or UA websites. I know she can pay to take extra luggage - thinking more of me shipping her something.

alanRow

If you google "unaccompanied baggage" you'll find lots of companies that will do it.

I doubt if any airline does it as it's too much hassle for them

NoFlyZone

I've done this several times. Just call the cargo department at the airline and they will fill you in. People ship air cargo all the time either through forwarders (like Emery) or direct. An example is Delta DASH:
http://www.delta.com/business_progra...dash/index.jsp

AAFrequentFlyer

I would forget shipping with airline. Regardless which way you go it will be expensive. Airline cargo is really geared more towards businesses, not individuals, although they will be happy to take your money if you insist.

USPS has a flat rate of about $50 per big box (don't know the max weight. It takes about 10-14 days but if she can just live with whatever she takes with her for the first 2 weeks, you can mail the rest, or better yet, if you know the address ahead of time, then you can ship it earlier and it will be waiting for her upon arrival, as long as there will be somebody to accept the package(s).

I do that all the time during my travels. I almost always traveled with just a carry on and once I was ready to go home, I would mail my dirty clothes home and fill the suitcase with purchases, gifts I made during my travels.

Never had a problem.

AAFrequentFlyer

It should be <b>10-14</b> business days, so it can take up to three weeks.

gail

AAFF - thanks - this almost seems too good to be true - and I will check it out. Hope this is true for international - but I know you do a lot of international travel and so it must be so. She will likely be travelling with as much luggage as they allow, but since she will be away 6 months wanted a reasonable option for shipping her a gift, something she forgets.

janisj

Are you sure she needs to ship <u>anything</u>? If she is taking a lot of luggage, that may be all she needs. Does she know how much space she'll have in her accommodations? (not likely nearly as much as she is used to)

Let her decide what she needs AFTER she arrives and gets settled in - then you can mail it to her.

dutyfree

Just an FYI on the USPS $50 box- Sorry to tell you the bad news but my daughter is over in England right now at graduate school and we wanted to ship stuff for her apartment before she left. You can ship the "any weight box" that is normally $13 in the US for $53 overseas from USPS. The box is soooo small that it definitely won't be worth it.We ended up going with my daughter overseas to move her in and each checking two bags and then ending up paying for the 9th bag-it was definitely worth it in my opinion. Good Luck!

gail

janis and dutyfree- the idea is to ship a few small items a few times - like a birthday present, some homesickness surprise. It will be a homestay - so fortunately she will just be taking clothing and personal items, not an apartment. We are not planning on playing luggage mules when she first leaves - a trip to Buenos Aires so she can bring more shoes is not on my radar. But we might visit mid-way in the 6 months so that is another option (no idea how she will get everything home - but that will be her problem)

clevelandbrown

AAFF,

I'm intrigued by your idea of mailing home some clothes to make gift space, but the USPS site speaks only of sending packages overseas, not sending them here from overseas, and the people at my small post office knew nothing about it.

So can I use USPS, or should I just go to the foreign post office and see what they offer? Is it your experience that they sell packaging at foreign post offices, as they do here?

AAFrequentFlyer

<b>CB</b>,

pretty much, and the prices are comparable... unless you're stuck in some remote part of the world.

But yes, you have to go to the local post office and do the transaction. It has nothing to do with USPS. I just brought USPS up because I did mail few items to my destinations and/or friends, but it works both ways.

janisj

"<i>So can I use USPS . . . </i>" Think about it -- how could you use USPS to mail things <u>from</u> overseas?

You have to use the postal service of whichever country you are in. Just like you'd use USPS to mail something from the USA to France for instance, you'd use the French postal service to mail something from France to the USA.

clevelandbrown

janisj, I did think about it.

First, AAFF, whom I consider a valuable source of information, seemed to say that it could be done.

Second, I know that when I was a GI, in a foreign country, I used USPS, or its predecessor, rather than the foreign mail service.

Third, by analogy, I reasoned that I can use my cell phone service, based in the US, rather than buying a foreign cell phone service, to call home.

So I asked for clarification, and received an accurate answer.

Now, if we are in the business of thinking about it, why did you post a redundant answer three hours after the question had been answered?

Cyanna

Tough room.

mrwunrfl

In the olden days (ca. 1983) we used to work on a document all night and then someone would take it to Dulles Airport and have it put on a United flight to SFO in order to make it on the due date at the last minute.

laurie_ann

In the olden days that document you put on that United flight actually was often carried on by a human who worked for a private courier service that bought a seat on the flight and that became his or her "luggage". I met some nice ladies that way who used the little trips as shopping excursions for example from Chicago to New York as their flight was free to them and they got a small fee too.