What the desk actually needs from Santiago is proximity to a gate. An assignment appears when something has to leave Santiago Metropolitan by a deadline no freight product will promise. The question is then very simple: who is close enough to SCL to check in for the next departure. From Santiago that is 22 minutes of driving, which is why the city is on the list at all.
On Board Courier, Santiago
Freelance hand carry work for couriers who live in Santiago. SCL is 22 minutes away by road, the desk books and pays the seat, and the fee is agreed in writing before you accept.
OnBoard Courier is a United Arab Emirates company, contracted by ICSL FZE and run from Dubai. A city named on this site is a place we cover and route through, not a separate company in that city. Assignments are contracted under UAE law, and the terms are published in full under legal and policies.
What the work pays
The fee for an assignment is agreed with you in writing before you accept it. These are the figures the site publishes, and what the desk covers on top of them.
Fees vary with the lane, the notice, the waiting time and whether the return is immediate, so the desk quotes each assignment individually rather than pretending one number fits every trip. You are self-employed and there is no minimum: accept or decline whatever you like, and declining costs you nothing. Earnings are paid per delivery by bank transfer, they appear in your courier portal, and you can request a payout once the balance reaches AED 200. Apply and see the flight board.
How to start, in four steps
Apply once
One application covers every country desk. Tell us which passports you hold and where you can travel.
Verification and the Academy
Identity and background check, then a short course on customs, handovers and chain of custody.
Your first offer
The desk sends the routing, the dates and the fee in writing. You accept or decline, nothing is automatic.
Fly, hand over, get paid
Collect, board, clear customs in person, hand over against signature, and the fee is paid to your account.
The assignment
Most assignments out of SCL are confirmed hours, not days, in advance. You are given the flight, the consignee and the customs position in writing, you drive to SCL, and the ticket is already paid and issued in your name. Where the routing runs through the Emirates it goes by way of MAD, on one ticket, with the connection booked long enough to be real. The handover is in person, and the fee reaches your account after it.
Getting to the aircraft from Santiago
From the middle of Santiago to the departure hall at SCL is 18 km of road, 22 minutes in normal conditions. Every timing the desk gives a courier in Santiago starts from that number.
The ground leg from Santiago barely counts as one. 22 minutes to SCL means the desk can ring you and still make a departure the same evening. A single gate serves Santiago. When SCL has no suitable departure the assignment waits or goes to another city, which is worth knowing before you join the list.
| IATA | Airport | By road | Driving time | Nonstop |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SCL | Santiago Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez | 18 km | 22 minutes | 55 |
Santiago is a city of 4.8 million people in Santiago Metropolitan, and the clock there runs 8 hours behind the Emirates in summer and 7 in winter. Road distances are measured driving routes rather than straight lines, and nonstop counts come from the scheduled route data this site publishes.
What SCL reaches without a change
The board at SCL carries 55 nonstop destinations flown by 16 carriers. The table below is the busiest end of the SCL board, measured in average daily flights rather than in marketing.
| IATA | City | Airport | Frequency | Operators |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CJC | Calama | Calama El Loa | about 23 departures a day | 3 operators: LATAM, SKY Airline, JetSMART |
| ANF | Antofagasta | Antofagasta Cerro Moreno | about 20 departures a day | 3 operators: LATAM, SKY Airline, JetSMART |
| PMC | Puerto Montt | El Tepual Airport | about 14 departures a day | 3 operators: LATAM, SKY Airline, JetSMART |
| CCP | Concepción | Concepción Carriel Sur | about 14 departures a day | 3 operators: LATAM, SKY Airline, JetSMART |
| GRU | São Paulo | São Paulo Guarulhos - Governador André Franco Montoro | about 13 departures a day | 4 operators: LATAM, SKY Airline, JetSMART |
| IQQ | Iquique | Diego Aracena Airport | about 12 departures a day | 3 operators: LATAM, SKY Airline, JetSMART |
| ZCO | Temuco | Temuco La Araucania | about 10 departures a day | 3 operators: LATAM, SKY Airline, JetSMART |
| LSC | La Serena-Coquimbo | La Serena-Coquimbo La Florida | about 9 departures a day | 3 operators: LATAM, SKY Airline, JetSMART |
| AEP | Buenos Aires | Jorge Newbery Airfield | about 8 departures a day | 3 operators: SKY Airline, JetSMART, Aerolineas Argentinas |
| LIM | Lima | Lima Jorge Chávez | about 8 departures a day | 2 operators: LATAM, SKY Airline |
Counting every airport a courier in Santiago can drive to, the combined nonstop board is 55 airports. Frequencies are average daily flights and change with the season, so the desk checks the live schedule before it offers you anything.
What moves out of Santiago
There is no published industrial map for the SCL area on this site, and a page that made one up would be worthless. The traffic out of Santiago is the normal kind: documents that have to be witnessed, parts that stopped something, and samples with a clock on them.
Why a courier in Santiago is useful to the desk
A courier based in Santiago is useful to a Dubai desk for a reason that has nothing to do with Santiago being famous. It is that the desk can position a person at SCL inside 22 minutes of a phone call, and SCL has somewhere to send them.
Honesty about the routing out of SCL matters more than a good headline. From Santiago the best single change is Madrid (MAD), and MAD to DXB is flown by Emirates, about 2 departures a day. Counting a normal connection that is around 21h 52m gate to gate, so an assignment between Santiago and the Emirates is planned as a connecting itinerary and the desk books the whole thing on one ticket.
The nearest other cities on the Chile list
Show the 4 closest, and how far each is from Santiago
All 5 Chile cities are listed on the Chile courier desk, which stays the general application for the country.
The engagement, and who we are looking for
The engagement
- Type: freelance, self-employed. You are an independent courier accepting individual assignments, not an employee, and you decide which ones you take.
- Where it runs: assignments are flown out of SCL, between Chile and wherever the consignment is going, with the return leg agreed per mission.
- Hours: variable. An assignment is a single trip, not a shift or a roster.
- How you are paid: a fee per completed assignment, agreed in writing before you accept it. The fees published on this site run from AED 1,200 for a document pouch to AED 2,000 for a cooled medical consignment, and the figure for your assignment reflects the lane, the notice, the waiting time and whether the return is immediate.
- What the desk pays: the flight, the transfers and, where the routing needs it, the hotel. A courier never pays for the ticket and never fronts the fare.
- Applying is free. No payment is required to apply, to be screened or to be placed on the courier list. The Academy costs AED 199, paid once, and is returned in full on top of the fee for your first completed assignment. It is the only payment a courier ever makes to us.
What we look for
- A passport with comfortable remaining validity and free pages, and the right to enter the country on the routing. The desk checks the visa position for your specific passport before any assignment is offered.
- A clean background check and a willingness to be verified. Couriers carry other people’s property.
- Availability at short notice, and a realistic view of the 22 minutes drive to SCL. Most assignments are confirmed hours, not days, before departure.
- Presentable, calm and articulate at a customs counter. The consignment is only as smooth as the person carrying it.
- A working phone, reachable on the number you gave us, for the whole assignment.
What we provide
- The ticket. Always. A courier never pays for the flight and never fronts the fare.
- The paperwork, prepared before you reach SCL, and a named contact at the desk on both ends.
- A briefing on the consignment, the consignee and what the customs position at the far end looks like.
- A fee per completed assignment, agreed with you in advance and paid by bank transfer after the handover.
Questions about the Santiago list
01How far is Santiago from SCL?
18 km, about 22 minutes by car from Santiago. The desk works backwards from the bag drop at SCL, so the time it asks you to leave will look conservative and is meant to.
02What can I reach from Santiago without a change of aircraft?
SCL serves 55 airports nonstop across 18 countries with 16 operating carriers, and counting every gate a courier in Santiago can drive to, the combined nonstop board is 55 airports. That is the practical range of a single assignment from here before anybody has to connect.
03Getting from Santiago to the Emirates: nonstop or not?
From Santiago the best single change is Madrid (MAD), and MAD to DXB is flown by Emirates, about 2 departures a day. Counting a normal connection that is around 21h 52m gate to gate, so an assignment between Santiago and the Emirates is planned as a connecting itinerary and the desk books the whole thing on one ticket.
04Do I have to live in the UAE to be on this list?
No. OnBoard Courier is a UAE company and the desk is in Dubai, but the courier list is worldwide. Living in Santiago, 22 minutes from SCL, is a qualification rather than an obstacle.
05Does it cost anything to apply?
No. There is no fee to join the Santiago list and no deposit of any kind. The Academy is AED 199 once, and that AED 199 is added back on top of what you are paid for your first completed assignment.
06How is my fee agreed?
The desk sends the routing, the timing and the fee for that specific assignment in writing. You accept or decline it. Nothing is deducted or charged without your written agreement.
Apply to fly out of SCL
Apply once and you are on the list for SCL and for every other lane your passport allows. Declining an offer out of SCL costs you nothing.
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