On top of that sit state variations and operator variations. A state can be stricter than the Technical Instructions, and an airline can be stricter than its state. A commodity that is acceptable on one carrier out of one airport can be refused on the next, and that is normal rather than obstructive.
Air freight · dangerous goods
Dangerous goods and lithium batteries
The framework, the four lithium UN numbers, and the one place where the choice between air freight and a hand carry stops being a judgement and becomes a rule.
- Binding instrument
- ICAO TI
- Working manual
- IATA DGR, annual
- UN3480 aircraft
- Cargo only
- UN3480 charge limit
- 30%
What this desk is. OnBoard Courier places on board couriers: a vetted person carries the consignment in the cabin on a scheduled passenger flight and hands it over against a signature. The desk does not operate air freight, does not hold an airline contract and is not a forwarder. Air freight enquiries sent through this site are passed to a vetted forwarding partner, and the pages here are written so that you can tell which of the two you actually need.
Who writes the rules
The binding instrument is the ICAO Technical Instructions for the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air. What the industry works from day to day is the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations, which reproduce the Technical Instructions and add the operational and carrier specific requirements on top. The DGR is reissued every year and an out of date edition is not a defence.
Nothing on this page is advice on how to classify or ship a specific consignment. It is a description of the framework so that you can have a useful conversation with somebody who is qualified to do it.
Lithium batteries, the part everybody trips on
Lithium is the commodity that turns an ordinary shipment into a dangerous goods shipment without anybody intending it, because it arrives inside things: a prototype, a medical device, a drone, a power tool, a laptop in a box of samples.
The four UN numbers matter more than the word lithium. UN3480 is lithium ion cells and batteries shipped on their own. UN3090 is lithium metal cells and batteries shipped on their own. Both of those are forbidden on passenger aircraft and go on cargo aircraft only. UN3481 is lithium ion batteries packed with or contained in equipment, and UN3091 is the lithium metal equivalent. Those two may travel on passenger aircraft, subject to the packing instruction that applies and to the marks, labels and documents it requires.
For UN3480 there is also a state of charge limit: not more than 30 per cent of rated capacity when offered for transport. This has been in force since 2016 and it is checked.
The practical consequence for anybody weighing a hand carry against air freight is blunt. A courier is a passenger. If the consignment is UN3480 or UN3090, no courier can take it and the routing has to be cargo aircraft only. The desk will say that rather than try to reclassify your shipment for you.
The classes, at a level that is useful to a shipper
The nine classes
Explosives, gases, flammable liquids, flammable solids, oxidising substances and organic peroxides, toxic and infectious substances, radioactive material, corrosives, and a ninth class of miscellaneous dangerous goods which is where lithium batteries, dry ice and magnetised material sit.
The ones that surprise people
Dry ice, because a temperature controlled pharma shipment often contains it and it is UN1845 with a quantity limit per package.
Aerosols, paints, adhesives and solvents, because they arrive as samples rather than as chemicals.
Magnetised material, because a loudspeaker or a motor can exceed the field strength limit.
Engines, pumps and machinery that have been run, because residual fuel or oil makes them dangerous goods even when they are drained.
What a declaration needs
The proper shipping name, the UN number, the class and division, the packing group where one applies, the packing instruction, the quantity per package and the number of packages, plus the marks and labels on the outside of each one. Trained and certified staff prepare it. The shipper signs it.
Screening comes after, not instead
A correctly declared dangerous goods shipment still has to pass security screening, and a shipment from an unknown consignor is screened by the regulated agent handling it. The two regimes are separate and both apply.
What this changes about the choice
Dangerous goods is the one area where the comparison between air freight and a hand carry has a hard edge rather than a judgement. If the classification puts the consignment on a cargo aircraft only routing, a courier is not an option at any price and on any lane.
The corollary is worth stating too. A great many consignments that people assume are dangerous goods are not, and a great many that people assume are fine are. The time to find out is before the deadline, not at the counter.
Questions people actually ask
01Can I put a lithium battery in a shipment?
It depends on the UN number and how it is packed, and the answer is set by the regulations rather than by the carrier's goodwill. Cells and batteries shipped on their own, UN3480 for lithium ion and UN3090 for lithium metal, go on cargo aircraft only. Batteries packed with equipment or contained in equipment, UN3481 and UN3091, may travel on passenger aircraft subject to the relevant packing instruction. Getting this wrong is not a paperwork error, it is an offence in most jurisdictions.
02What is the 30 per cent rule?
Lithium ion cells and batteries shipped on their own under UN3480 must be offered for transport at a state of charge not exceeding 30 per cent of their rated capacity. It has applied since 2016. A fully charged battery pack presented for shipment is non compliant however carefully it is packed.
03Who classifies the goods?
The shipper, and it cannot be delegated by asking a forwarder what they think. The shipper declares the classification, signs the declaration and carries the responsibility for it. A forwarder or a certified packer can prepare and check, but the declaration is the shipper's.
04Can a courier hand carry dangerous goods?
Only what a passenger may lawfully carry, which is a short list and does not include most declared dangerous goods. A courier is a passenger, and passenger baggage rules apply to them exactly as they apply to everybody else on the aircraft. Where an item is genuinely dangerous goods, the honest answer is air freight with a proper declaration, and this desk gives that answer rather than looking for a way round it.
05Does a small quantity make it not dangerous?
It can change which provisions apply, through excepted and limited quantity rules, but it does not make the classification go away and it does not remove the need for correct packing and marking. Deciding that something is small enough not to count is the most common way a shipment becomes an incident.
Where this came from
- Scheduled network, airlines and frequencies: AeroDataBox scheduled route statistics as held by this site, retrieved 2026-09-07. It is a snapshot rather than a live timetable, it includes some all cargo operators but is not a complete freighter schedule, and a carrier that is not listed may still fly the pair.
- Distances: Great circle, computed from published airport coordinates. They are shorter than a flown track and are not routing distances.
- Block times: Modelled, not measured: great circle distance times a track factor of 1.06, divided by a cruise speed of 720, 830 or 880 km/h by distance band, plus thirty minutes of taxi across the two ends. This is the same model the route calculator on this site uses. A real timetable will differ.
- Industrial sites: Public company information, checked 2026-09-07. Nothing here states or implies that any company named is a customer of OnBoard Courier or of any operator.
- Air cargo rules and definitions: The ICAO Technical Instructions and the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations for dangerous goods, IATA Resolution 600a for the air waybill, the Montreal Convention 1999 for carrier liability, and Incoterms 2020. Where this site holds no figure of its own it says so rather than inventing one.
Who publishes this. OnBoard Courier is a hand carry placement desk in Dubai. It does not fly air freight. These pages exist because the desk is asked to rescue air freight that has run out of time often enough to have learned where the line between the two sits, and because a comparison written by somebody who sells only one of the two options is not a comparison. Found an error? Tell us and we will correct it.
Air freight, the comparison · Corridors · The Atlas · Route calculator