Air Courier - Flying For Free ?

[englandmj7]

Could belong in Superjetset, but alas, shopping for airfare is, indeed, a common quest of the supergay supershopper......

So I know this seems like a retarded gimmick, but I had a good friend who did this last year.....he flew from SFO to KL, Malaysia for $150 roundtrip for dates he selected. He went through 'Polo Express' (an international courier).

Here is a little bit of info. on the subject:

http://www.textfiles.com/anarchy/courier.txt

My question is: have any of you tried this? Or have friends who have tried it?

[showbiz00ditc]

i dunno about this... seems weird how they only let you pack yur carry-on... and how you have to check in their luggage under your name. especially with the way the borders are patrolled these days alot of the shit that couriers want ... couried could be considered dangerous or something and you end up getting fucked over.

weird how they say you dont even have to carry the luggage... seems to me like they dont even want you looking in the bags or whatever.

Although, if it is just a computer disk or some files i don't see much harm in that.

[xcoldricex]

i cannot for the life of me find a cheap ticket to bangkok for winter (cheapest i'm finding is $1575). i know i should've bought earlier but that's how it goes... any leads?

[mike lowrey]

wow thats pretty interesting.

I could never do it though, I always need to be sure and secure about everything when I travel, I'm always early at airports etc so this would be too much for me.

I'd love to hear some stories though!

[cureOne]

i cannot for the life of me find a cheap ticket to bangkok for winter (cheapest i'm finding is $1575). i know i should've bought earlier but that's how it goes... any leads?

farechase.com is showing 765 from lax and 850 from JFK to BKK in november/december. Dunno where you're flying out of but I would imagine it's around this price...

[poly800rock]

i cannot for the life of me find a cheap ticket to bangkok for winter (cheapest i'm finding is $1575). i know i should've bought earlier but that's how it goes... any leads?

thats high season isn't it? i've only ever been through southeast asia when it's like a billion degrees in june or august...and it was like $700 to bangkok from NYC

[xcoldricex]

getting $2300+ for detroit to bangkok using farechase. yeah its the ultra-peak season (xmas holiday, new years) dec-jan.

airfare is so ridiculous.

[englandmj7]

i cannot for the life of me find a cheap ticket to bangkok for winter (cheapest i'm finding is $1575). i know i should've bought earlier but that's how it goes... any leads?

Check out this post/site for cheap ticket info:

http://www.fatwallet.com/t/63/312271/

These two are the best single sites imo:

http://www.bookingbuddy.com/

http://www.mobissimo.com/search_airfare.php

If you are going to Asia (specifically BKK) the cheapest airlines are generally: EVA, ANA, JAL, and China Air. I am going to be there this winter as well.....Supergay meetup?

i dunno about this... seems weird how they only let you pack yur carry-on... and how you have to check in their luggage under your name. especially with the way the borders are patrolled these days alot of the shit that couriers want ... couried could be considered dangerous or something and you end up getting fucked over.

weird how they say you dont even have to carry the luggage... seems to me like they dont even want you looking in the bags or whatever.

Although, if it is just a computer disk or some files i don't see much harm in that.

Well, apparently, it has been alot less prevalent since Sept. 11 due to increased security measures, but it is still available. They only let you pack a carry-on because they are getting you the cheapest fare possible and luggage space can often significantly increase the price. You act as a mailman so the product can get there overnight on last minute notice.

Like several sites have noted, it is nearly impossible to get a 'free' flight, but you can get huge discounts. These couriers might pay over $200 in logistics/transportation fees for a time-sensitive overnight package to Asia from the U.S. With a courier service, they cut a deal with airlines for say a $400 roundtrip ticket to Asia. They pay $150 of it, you pay the rest. The package gets their faster and reliably. You pick it up at the airport and drop it off when you land. You usually, however, save the most money when they pick the dates and you can go on a minute's notice. Unless you are unemployed (or have tons of time) and can do this, as I have been told, you usually might only save 15-25% on the ticket with dates you chose, which wouldn't be worth the hassle......eh, interesting nonetheless.

[onemancult]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

the spot, the spot is being blown up, magnified, expooooosed.

yes, i know people that have done it. i've done it. it is a pretty stress-free process. i was delivering some financial papers- i did end up having to wait about half an hour to pass the materials onto a representative in germany, but that's not really a big deal. i flew for $100, during the Summer... it was sort of a last minute thing, really good timing on my part, so i can't really say how deep of a discount i would've gotten otherwise.

[englandmj7]

getting $2300+ for detroit to bangkok using farechase. yeah its the ultra-peak season (xmas holiday, new years) dec-jan.

airfare is so ridiculous.

If worse comes to worse, you can book a roundtrip ticket to Los Angeles or San Francisco (can't imagine they would be more than $250) and fly from there. I buy tickets to BKK every year from LA and pay around $800 total (I usually go from Dec. 22 - Jan. 11) ........

[englandmj7]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

the spot, the spot is being blown up, magnified, expooooosed.

yes, i know people that have done it. i've done it. it is a pretty stress-free process. i was delivering some financial papers- i did end up having to wait about half an hour to pass the materials onto a representative in germany, but that's not really a big deal. i flew for $100, during the Summer... it was sort of a last minute thing, really good timing on my part, so i can't really say how deep of a discount i would've gotten otherwise.

Awesome! Mind PM'ing me what Agency/Courier you went through....

[onemancult]

Awesome! Mind PM'ing me what Agency/Courier you went through....

i would, honestly, but the particular service i went through offered these opportunities only to the employees of companies that used their services regularly. the internet startup i worked for cut a deal with the courier service so that if you were ever taking a vacation, you could call up the head of the courier service and find out if they had any packages heading somewhere nice for a week or two, and we'd never have to plunk down more than 200 dollars. it was a bit like an incentive program, and let me tell you, it hella worked. oh, the days of making millions of dollars on the internet for doing absolutely nothing.

[englandmj7]

^^ That's awesome....lucky bastard

[canice]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

the spot, the spot is being blown up, magnified, expooooosed.

the spot's been blown for a while. these days everyone is looking for their own special lonely planet kind of backpacker's experience (self included), and there's just way too much demand.

[xcoldricex]

If you are going to Asia (specifically BKK) the cheapest airlines are generally: EVA, ANA, JAL, and China Air. I am going to be there this winter as well.....Supergay meetup?

errr. i think we'll have to change the supergay handsignal. if we use the limp wrist, i might mistake a ladyboy for you!

If worse comes to worse, you can book a roundtrip ticket to Los Angeles or San Francisco (can't imagine they would be more than $250) and fly from there. I buy tickets to BKK every year from LA and pay around $800 total (I usually go from Dec. 22 - Jan. 11) ........

yeah i was thinking about doing that but doing a quick search it turned up being around $1300 from lax. but i might have to dig more (or you could tell me where you got your tickets!)

[englandmj7]

yeah i was thinking about doing that but doing a quick search it turned up being around $1300 from lax. but i might have to dig more (or you could tell me where you got your tickets!)

I more often than not book them directly through EVA Air's website. Speaking of this year, however, I have not bought them yet. I am waiting until a buddy of mine gets back from Iraq so we can make sure we are on the same flight.......I have found that booking them to go anytime within 3 days of Dec. 25th increases the price by at least $250. So if Christmas Day there isn't that important to you, I would wait until after and save alot of money.

[masuerte]

This is a great great thread.

[xcoldricex]

I more often than not book them directly through EVA Air's website. Speaking of this year, however, I have not bought them yet. I am waiting until a buddy of mine gets back from Iraq so we can make sure we are on the same flight.......I have found that booking them to go anytime within 3 days of Dec. 25th increases the price by at least $250. So if Christmas Day there isn't that important to you, I would wait until after and save alot of money.

shit is coming up as sold out already. i want to stay there as long as possible i get off the 16th and have to come back in the first week of jan. so that's why i'm getting these ridiculous prices probably.

[Analyst]

shit is coming up as sold out already. i want to stay there as long as possible i get off the 16th and have to come back in the first week of jan. so that's why i'm getting these ridiculous prices probably.

xcoldricex, I would go with the 1500$ ticket for those days. It's peak season and tickets will go up to 3000$ for economy later. I paid 1800$ a few years ago to come to BKK for NYE and was lucky to get that price.

I'm coming back to the states around Jan 15. Prices are around 1300$ on NW I think. Good luck!