Every assignment starts with an airport, and yours is ORD. The desk holds a consignment that is late, valuable or perishable, finds the first departure that fits, and then looks for a courier who can be at the counter in time. Arlington Heights is 39 minutes out, which puts you inside the window for most of 295 nonstop destinations.
Open · United States desk · Arlington Heights
On Board Courier, Arlington Heights
If you are in Arlington Heights you are 39 minutes from Chicago O'Hare and 295 scheduled nonstop destinations. That is the whole starting qualification. Freelance, per assignment, ticket paid.
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.
Based inArlington Heights, Illinois
Nearest gateORD · Chicago
Drive to the aircraft19 km · 39 minutes
Nonstop from ORD295 airports
EngagementFreelance · per assignment
Fee per assignmentAED 900 to 2,600
Apply for this position
Applying is free. Freelance · self-employed ·
posted 7 September 2026 · open until 7 March 2027
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.
Top published feeAED 2,000The highest fee the site shows for a single assignment: sealed medical samples in a cooled case, Dubai to Singapore.
Published band, per assignmentAED 900 to 2,600A document pouch to London is AED 1,200, an aircraft part to Frankfurt AED 1,500, an escorted watch on the Berlin lane AED 1,800.
What the flight costs youAED 0The desk books and pays the ticket, the transfers and, where the routing needs it, the hotel. A courier never fronts the fare.
The one payment you makeAED 199, returnedThe Academy, paid once. It comes back in full on top of the fee for your first completed assignment. Applying itself is free.
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.
You fly as a passengerOne consignment in the cabin, one handover against signature. No warehouse, no van, no round.
The desk books and pays the ticketFlight, transfers and, where the routing needs it, a hotel are booked before you leave for the airport.
Paid per assignmentA fee agreed in writing before you accept, paid to your bank account after the signature. Applying is free.
How to start, in four steps
1
Apply once
One application covers every country desk. Tell us which passports you hold and where you can travel.
2
Verification and the Academy
Identity and background check, then a short course on customs, handovers and chain of custody.
3
Your first offer
The desk sends the routing, the dates and the fee in writing. You accept or decline, nothing is automatic.
4
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
There is no roster and no shift on the Arlington Heights list. An assignment is a single trip: accept the offer, collect, drive 19 km to ORD, board, land, clear, hand over. The Gulf sector out of ORD is nonstop, so there is no connection to miss. Then you go home or you wait for a return leg, and the desk books and pays for either.
Getting to the aircraft from Arlington Heights
The ground leg from Arlington Heights is 19 km to Chicago O'Hare, about 39 minutes. Where a second airport is within reach of Arlington Heights it is listed too, because the desk will use whichever one has the flight.
A drive of 39 minutes is comfortable for a same day departure as long as the call comes with a couple of hours in hand, which most do. Arlington Heights has more than one way out, which is unusual and useful. MDW at 59 minutes adds 208 nonstop destinations to the 295 at ORD.
| IATA | Airport | By road | Driving time | Nonstop |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD | Chicago O'Hare | 19 km | 39 minutes | 295 |
| MDW | Chicago Midway | 58 km | 59 minutes | 208 |
| MKE | Milwaukee General Mitchell | 112 km | 1 hour 25 minutes | 90 |
Arlington Heights is a city of 76,000 people in Illinois, and the clock there runs 9 hours behind the Emirates in summer and 10 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 ORD reaches without a change
Scheduled reach from Chicago O'Hare: 295 nonstop destinations, 44 countries, 60 operating carriers. Frequencies below are average daily flights from the site’s own route data.
| IATA | City | Airport | Frequency | Operators |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BOS | Boston | Boston General Edward Lawrence Logan | about 30 departures a day | 5 operators: United Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines |
| LAX | Los Angeles | Los Angeles | about 28 departures a day | 5 operators: United Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines |
| DFW | Dallas-Fort Worth | Dallas-Fort Worth | about 26 departures a day | 6 operators: American Airlines, Frontier Airlines, EVA Air |
| LGA | New York | New York La Guardia | about 26 departures a day | 2 operators: United Airlines, American Airlines |
| ATL | Atlanta | Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson | about 23 departures a day | 6 operators: United Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines |
| DCA | Washington | Washington Ronald Reagan National | about 23 departures a day | 2 operators: United Airlines, American Airlines |
| MSP | Minneapolis | Minneapolis Wold-Chamberlain | about 22 departures a day | 5 operators: United Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines |
| DTW | Detroit | Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County | about 21 departures a day | 5 operators: United Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines |
| IAH | Houston | Houston George Bush | about 21 departures a day | 6 operators: United Airlines, American Airlines, Frontier Airlines |
| DEN | Denver | Denver | about 21 departures a day | 5 operators: United Airlines, American Airlines, Frontier Airlines |
Counting every airport a courier in Arlington Heights can drive to, the combined nonstop board is 386 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 Arlington Heights
No public industrial file exists here for Arlington Heights, so none is claimed. Urgent hand carry demand in a city this size comes from deadlines, not from a single plant: a court filing, a machine that stopped, a batch that has to be tested.
Why a courier in Arlington Heights is useful to the desk
Hand carry is a business of catchments, and Arlington Heights is inside one. Arlington Heights sits inside the catchment of Chicago O'Hare, 19 km out, which means a consignment collected in the city in the morning is airborne the same day rather than the next one.
The Emirates end of the lane looks like this from ORD. From Arlington Heights the Gulf is a single sector: ORD and AUH are joined nonstop, about 3 departures a day, flown by Etihad Airways. That is roughly 14h 19m in the air over 11,650 km, and it means a consignment can leave Arlington Heights in the evening and be in the Gulf before the next working day starts.
The nearest other cities on the United States list
Show the 12 closest, and how far each is from Arlington Heights
Elgin25 km away, ORD in 53 minutesWaukegan33 km away, MKE in 57 minutesAurora46 km away, MDW in 1 hour 5 minutesKenosha57 km away, MKE in 46 minutesJoliet63 km away, MDW in 1 hourHammond69 km away, MDW in 46 minutesRockford94 km away, ORD in 1 hour 46 minutesWaukesha105 km away, MKE in 38 minutesMilwaukee106 km away, MKE in 16 minutesSouth Bend150 km away, MDW in 2 hours 6 minutesMadison160 km away, MKE in 1 hour 48 minutesKalamazoo198 km away, DTW in 2 hours 18 minutes
All 208 United States cities are listed on the United States 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 ORD and the other airports listed above, between the United States 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 39 minutes drive to ORD. 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 ORD, 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 Arlington Heights list
01How far is Arlington Heights from ORD?
39 minutes and 19 km on a measured route. Whether that is a comfortable drive depends on the hour, so the offer names the time you should leave Arlington Heights rather than only the departure time.
02What can I reach from Arlington Heights without a change of aircraft?
ORD serves 295 airports nonstop across 44 countries with 60 operating carriers, and counting every gate a courier in Arlington Heights can drive to, the combined nonstop board is 386 airports. That is the practical range of a single assignment from here before anybody has to connect.
03Getting from Arlington Heights to the Emirates: nonstop or not?
From Arlington Heights the Gulf is a single sector: ORD and AUH are joined nonstop, about 3 departures a day, flown by Etihad Airways. That is roughly 14h 19m in the air over 11,650 km, and it means a consignment can leave Arlington Heights in the evening and be in the Gulf before the next working day starts.
04Do I have to live in the UAE to be on this list?
No. The company is Emirati and the coordination happens in Dubai, but couriers live in places like Arlington Heights. The Arlington Heights list exists because somebody has to be near ORD when a consignment appears in Illinois.
05Does it cost anything to apply?
It is free to apply from Arlington Heights and free to be screened. The one charge anywhere in the process is the AED 199 Academy, paid once and refunded on top of your first assignment fee.
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 ORD
Put your name down for Arlington Heights. There is no cost to apply from Arlington Heights, no minimum, and no obligation to accept anything you are offered.
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