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Courier companies ship things using the luggage space of an aircraft passenger. It can be quicker, cheaper, and more reliable than sending the shipment unaccompanied, since checked luggage bypasses many of the typical customs delays. The company purchases tickets, and then they resells them to you. In exchange for your luggage space, they give you a discount on the airfare.
I saved $160 on my plane tickets this way when I went to Ecuador the first time. I had several suitcases full of car parts, but there was a representative of the courier company on either end, and I looked inside the luggage, so I knew what I was carrying. I carried a plane propeller on the return trip, which wasn't much trouble, and made a good story.
It's easiest to be an air courier if you travel alone. Occasionally, a courier company will have opportunities for flights on or near the same date. If not, your travel partner can pay full fare on the same flight. You also are usually allowed carry-on luggage, since the point is for the shipping company to use your checked luggage allowance.
Once in a while, air couriers fly internationally for free, and almost always very cheap. It's a matter of how badly the company needs you and how flexible you are (can you fly to London on Friday?). Air courier opportunities are becoming rarer, due to the recent heavier regulation of international flights, but there still are opportunities. Find out more at The Air Courier Association Website (www.aircourier.org). The ACA can also help you get really cheap plane tickets by way of airline ticket wholesalers, discounters, last minute specials, and stand-by travel.
When my wife and I went to Ecuador for six weeks, the cheapest discount plane tickets we could find were $3400. I had run into this problem of not living near an international airport before. I had also found a solution, for when money is really tight.
We took a Greyhound bus to Miami. It cost $352 round-trip for the two of us. Then flew from there to Quito, which was $622 round-trip for both of us. $985 total, including the taxi from the bus station to the airport. We saved $2400. I'm not recommending this, but at the time, for us, it was worth a couple days on a bus. (The whole six weeks cost $2400.)
By the way, combining a bus trip with being an air courier is how I went to Ecuador and back from Michigan for close to $400.
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