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Long-haul flights might seem right out of your budget this year but if you’re prepared to be a courier for the airline industry you can snap up some super-cheap bargains.

A courier flight is when you accompany a vetted package on a flight, allowing you to buy heavily-discounted flights to certain long-haul destinations. Courier companies often find that sending a package with a passenger is cheaper than sending it as an unaccompanied shipment. It also allows them to bypass a lot of typical customs delays.

Once a widespread phenomenon, courier flights have become extremely rare as companies like DHL and UPS find ways to reduce their transport costs without using couriers.

However, we’ve unearthed Tokyo and Bangkok as two long-haul destinations where flights can be cheap if you fly as a courier.

The way it works is that the courier company buys economy class tickets and resells them on to ‘air couriers’ (you) who accompany the package. You pick up the package from the airport from the company representative, take it on board your flight and store it as hand luggage, or occasionally as main luggage.

At your destination you take the package and hand it over the the representative on the other side. Job done - and you have a cheap flight for your troubles. And there’s always a return flight as part of the deal, on which you may not have to pick up a package at all.

British Airways Travel shops are one of the very few players still left in the air courier market. They sell discounted tickets from Heathrow only to two destinations - Tokyo and Bangkok.

They have two flights a day to Tokyo and one a day to Bangkok, and the maximum stay is three weeks. You pick up the package, usually some documents, from their desk at the airport.

Just call them on 0870-320-0301, Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm and tell them when and where you want to go.

British Airways Travel Shop offer return flights to Bangkok for £350 from mid-January and to Tokyo for £300.

They want you to stay for two weeks or less, but for £55 you can stay for a third week. That’s still up to a 50% saving on flights booked using eBookers for the same time slots.

To be a courier you have to be over the age of 18, and there is usually only one seat per flight, so it’s more suitable for solo travellers.

Be aware too, that many air courier websites which ask for a fee to sign up to courier flight alerts no longer accept new customers or have closed down. Check first that they have a phone number and registered address on their website and phone them to see if they are still offering genuine jobs.

No, don’t worry! We’re talking about reputable courier companies here, not drugs cartels. The packages are fully vetted beforehand, and under international shipping law the courier company, and not the courier, is liable for the contents of the package.

On arrival at the destination, the documents are passed to the agent of the courier company who then takes the material from the baggage claim area and clears it through customs. A courier is never personally liable for the contents of the cargo.

So there you go - super cheap flights. If you find any more destinations you can fly to as a courier, let us know at pr@moneymagpie.com

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