know about couriers for cheap flights?
 

I heard that you could give up your luggage space for someone else's package and get a really cheap flight. where do i find out about this?

Unless you have easy and quick access to a handful of gateways--NYC, LAX, MIA--couriering won't be worth your time. Their fares are not always cheaper than what you could find otherwise, anyway. For example, Virgin Atlantic currently has NYC-LON at $173+tax roundtrip if you book online. If you have to fly to a courier gateway last-minute, those walkup fares to get there from your home airport are quite expensive--thus erasing any great deal you thought you had.

You're tooooooo late. Those days of cheap courier fares are gone. It's a whole new ball game now. Not the deal that it used to be.

Not entirely true. There are a a few good courier fares left here and there--sometimes the best deals are to Asia, with $300 R/T fares NYC-Hong Kong and the like on occasion. It's definitely a whole new market from the way it was 10 years ago, when rock-bottom courier fares to Europe abounded through Now Voyager and Halbart and the like. But it can still be a viable tool. <BR> <BR>But since you're posting this on the US forum, Ginger, I assume you're looking for US flights? No such thing. Courier flights are only available for overseas trips. As Don mentions, you need to be in a gateway city like NY, Miami, LA or San Francisco. <BR> <BR>There are a lot of people out there who want to take your money and "help you become a courier" and give you courier f flight info. Most of them aren't worth anything. The only one I found to be useful in researching the subject is the IAATC, with a Web site at www.courier.org. They have a membership section with last-minute flights that they update twice daily, things like $50 to Mexico City and $150 to Madrid (no taxes additional). If you're flexible in travel times and live in or very near a gateway city, then it's worth joining IAATC to keep up with the deals. (No, I don't work for them or know anyone who does.) They even occasionally get free tickets, although those are few and far between and you usually have to be available to be at the airport within 3-4 hours. Those mostly go to people who have flown with them before so that they know they're reliable. <BR> <BR>

I have heard of these flights and have no interest in them myself, but I'm just curious as to how such a thing can exist given that any company can just pay a delivery company (like DHL, etc) to deliver a package overseas. You folks who seem to know about courier flights, why do companies do this, what's the point? Also if you "give up" your luggage space, what does that mean given on any flight I've been on you can easily take another bag if you pay a surcharge for it. These courier flights just sound shady to me; why would a company have to send something this way which would seem to cost more than just using a shipper? Shipping costs can't be as high as personal airline tickets, can they? I myself have shipped stuff overseas for maybe $25 for a package about half the size of a carryon bag and I see international shipping rates all the time from online stores that are based in Europe that are a heck of a lot cheaper than an airline seat. What's the deal?