What is an on board courier?
An on board courier, often shortened to OBC, is the fastest way to move a small, critical shipment between cities when it cannot wait for a cargo booking. A courier takes custody of the shipment, takes a seat on the next suitable passenger flight, carries the shipment as carry-on or checked baggage, and delivers it by hand at the other end. The shipment never sits in a cargo terminal, and one person is responsible for it from pickup to signature.
Alvy Logistics runs OBC trips that start at Los Angeles International (LAX), San Diego International (SAN) and San Francisco International (SFO), to domestic and international destinations served by commercial passenger flights. You may also see it called an onboard courier, a hand carry courier service or an air courier service. They all describe the same thing: a person flying with your shipment.
How does an on-board courier work?
- You call with the details: pickup address, destination, what the shipment is, its size and weight, and the deadline.
- We confirm the flight and the quote: the next suitable flight, the courier’s time and the travel costs. If you need a courier moving in under 2 hours, rush dispatch is $250.
- Custody starts at pickup: the courier collects the shipment with a signed handoff. Chain-of-custody documentation, a signed record of every handoff, is $75.
- The flight: the shipment travels with the courier and is screened at the airport like any passenger’s bags.
- Delivery in person: on landing, the courier goes straight to the recipient by ground transport and hands the shipment over.
International trips add a customs step at the destination. Customs can hold a shipment whose paperwork is incomplete, so the commercial invoice and any export or import documents need to be ready before the courier leaves.
On board courier, next flight out or expedited air freight?
All three put a shipment on a plane quickly, which is why they get confused.
| On board courier (hand carry) | Next flight out | Expedited air freight | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How it flies | With a courier, as passenger baggage | As airline cargo on the next departing flight | As air cargo, booked through a forwarder |
| Custody | One courier, pickup to signature | Airline cargo counter to cargo counter | Cargo terminals at both ends |
| Size | What one courier can carry or check | Small to medium parcels | Cartons up to full pallets |
| Best for | Hours matter and custody matters | Same-day moves with no escort | Bigger or heavier freight with a day or two to spare |
Our OBC is the hand carry version of next flight out: the courier takes the next suitable flight on the same plane as the shipment. When a shipment is too large or heavy to fly as baggage, it moves as air cargo. We coordinate air freight through TSA-approved indirect air carriers. For urgent loads that can go by road, see expedited freight.
When an on board courier beats air freight
- A line is down. A replacement part that gets a production line or a machine running again can cost less to fly by hand than another day of downtime.
- A device or instrument set is needed for a scheduled case. For road runs inside Southern California, see our medical courier service.
- A production deadline. Drives, prototypes, samples or materials that a shoot, a launch or a trade show cannot start without.
- Original documents that must arrive signed and in hand before a filing or a closing.
- Custody matters more than cost. High-value or confidential items that should stay with one responsible person.
Expedited air freight wins when the shipment is heavy, palletized or bulky, when a day or two is acceptable, or when cost matters more than hours. An OBC courier is priced on a person’s time and travel, so it rarely makes sense for freight measured in pallets.
What you provide, and what we arrange
You provide:
- The pickup and delivery addresses, and the name and phone number of the person receiving the shipment.
- An accurate description, size, weight and number of pieces.
- The deadline, and any receiving hours or access rules at the destination.
- For international trips, the commercial invoice and any export or import documents the shipment needs.
We arrange the courier, the flight, lodging if the trip runs overnight, and ground transport at the destination. Only items an airline accepts in passenger baggage can travel this way, so ask before you book if you are unsure about anything in the shipment.
How much does an on board courier cost?
OBC pricing has two parts: the courier’s time, which we set, and the travel, which we pass through at cost.
- Courier: a $143 dispatch fee plus $43 an hour, with a 4-hour minimum, so $315 before travel.
- Travel at cost: airfare, excess baggage, lodging (capped at $300 a night in the continental US and $400 in high-cost cities), ground transport at the destination, airport porter and origin parking.
- Per diem: $68 a day, and $40 per trip for an international phone.
As a worked example, a trip with 9 hours of courier time door to door comes to $143 + 9 × $43 = $530 for the courier, plus the $68 per diem and the airfare and ground transport at cost. After hours adds 25%, weekends 20% and federal holidays 50% to the dispatch fee and hourly charges. For more examples, see the on board courier cost guide.
Cancellation is free before dispatch. After dispatch and before the airport, it is 50% of the quoted courier charges. After check-in or ticketing, it is the full quoted courier charges plus the airfare.
Booking an on board courier from Los Angeles, San Diego or San Francisco
Call (661) 344-8766 with the shipment details and the deadline, or send them through a quote request. If the delivery can go by road within Southern California, a same-day courier run usually costs a fraction of an OBC trip.