Company & Compliance

Company & Compliance

Hand-carry logistics runs on trust. This page sets out, in plain language, who you are dealing with, which controls sit behind every assignment, and where the paperwork lives.

Who we are, and what our role is

OnBoard Courier is a Dubai-based on-board courier operator. When you confirm a quote, your contract is with us as the responsible service provider: we design the routing, buy the airline seat, assign a vetted courier, prepare the customs approach and remain your single point of accountability from collection to signed delivery.

The people who fly are vetted independent professional couriers engaged per assignment under our Courier Terms. We are not a postal operator and not an airline; carriage by air is performed by the scheduled airline named in your booking under its conditions of carriage, and customs brokerage, where a shipment needs it, is performed by licensed brokers we nominate or your own. This role split is stated here so there is never a question about who does what: the responsibility matrix makes it explicit line by line.

Sanctions & shipment screening

Every enquiry is screened before it becomes a booking. That means three checks, every time:

• Party screening, shipper, consignee and payer are checked against applicable sanctions and denied-party lists (UN, UAE Local Terrorist List, and where relevant OFAC, EU and UK lists) before we quote.
• Commodity screening, what the item is, against our Prohibited & Restricted Items list, dual-use classifications and the destination's import rules.
• Lane screening, origin, destination and routing, including transit points, against embargoes and airline security requirements.

A booking that fails screening is declined. No exceptions for urgency, urgency is our product, not our loophole.

KYC / KYB

Corporate accounts are onboarded with trade licence, registered address, authorised signatory and ultimate beneficial owner identification; private shippers with passport or Emirates ID. First-time shippers may be asked for additional verification before collection. We do not carry cash, bearer-negotiable instruments or precious items for unverified parties, and high-value shipments require declared value and supporting documentation as a condition of acceptance.

Chain of custody, documented, not promised

Every assignment runs on a numbered chain-of-custody record: sealed at collection with a tamper-evident seal, logged at every transfer with time, place and signature, photographed at handovers, and closed with a signed proof of delivery. The courier never checks the consignment in, never leaves it unattended and never breaks the seal. See the specimen chain-of-custody record and the specimen proof of delivery, published so you know before booking exactly which paperwork you will hold afterwards.

Insurance & liability, in one paragraph

Our liability is defined in the Client Service Agreement: a clear standard cap, the option to declare value and insure the shipment all-risk before departure, and the honest list of what is excluded. We would rather you read two pages before booking than argue one claim after, the terms are short on purpose.

How you track a job, portal statuses

Every assignment moves through the same named states, visible in the client portal and mirrored in our updates:

“Ticketed” means the seat is bought and the courier assigned, you get the flight number at this moment and can watch the aircraft yourself. Between “Departed” and “Delivered” you see connection events on multi-leg routings. The record closes with the signed POD attached.

Courier availability by region

Honest availability, not a marketing map. Activation means: time from your confirmation to a courier committed and moving.

Region	Typical activation	Notes
UAE & GCC	60 to 120 minutes, 24/7	Standby pool in Dubai; Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Doha departures covered directly.
Europe (major hubs)	Same day	London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Paris, Istanbul, collection usually within hours.
South & East Asia	Same day to next morning	Mumbai, Delhi, Singapore, Hong Kong strongest; secondary cities via positioning.
Africa	Next available rotation	Coverage via Dubai-positioned couriers on the dense Gulf, Africa network.
Americas	Next available rotation	Usually a Dubai- or Europe-positioned courier on the non-stop banks.
Oceania & Pacific	Next available rotation	Long-haul lanes; quotes state elapsed time honestly, hotel legs included.

A representative case, with the clock running

Anonymised and generalised from our operating pattern, names and identifying details removed.

Time (GST)	Event
09:12	Enquiry: aerospace fastener lot, 6 kg, needed at a European MRO, aircraft grounded, slot next morning.
09:24	Quote sent: named afternoon non-stop, all-in figure, customs approach stated. Screening cleared.
09:41	“Job confirmed.” Status: Accepted. Courier activated from the Dubai pool.
10:58	Status: Ticketed, flight number shared. Export paperwork prepared in parallel.
12:36	Status: Picked up, sealed (seal no. logged), photographed, custody record opened.
15:05	Status: Departed, consignment belted in the cabin beside the courier.
19:48 (local)	Arrival; import cleared with pre-alerted broker inside 50 minutes.
21:20 (local)	Status: Delivered, signed at the MRO stores window; POD and custody record issued. Aircraft released on schedule next morning.

Reachability

The desk answers 24/7 by e-mail at bookings [at] onboardcourier [dot] ae, monitored around the clock, not an autoresponder, and by phone/the quote form on +971 50 677 6228. Quotes go out within 15 minutes at any hour; if e-mail is your compliance channel, everything, including the offer, travels in writing.

The documents behind this page

Version 1.0 · August 2026 · drafted for review by UAE counsel before reliance