DeKalb sits inside the catchment of a working airport. Chicago Midway handles 208 nonstop destinations and 5 countries, and the drive from the centre is 1 hour 31 minutes. A courier who can be airside at MDW inside that window is worth more to the desk than a courier in a bigger city who is stuck in traffic.
Open · United States desk · DeKalb
On Board Courier, DeKalb
On board courier work out of DeKalb. You fly as a passenger, you carry one consignment, and the airport the desk puts you through is Chicago Midway, 1 hour 31 minutes from the centre.
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 inDeKalb, Illinois
Nearest gateMDW · Chicago
Drive to the aircraft105 km · 1 hour 31 minutes
Nonstop from MDW208 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
The paperwork exists before you leave DeKalb. Invoice, declaration, consignee details and, where the goods need it, the permit, all prepared in Dubai and sent to you before you leave DeKalb. Where the routing runs through the Emirates it goes by way of ATL, on one ticket, with the connection booked long enough to be real. Your job at the counter is to be calm, to answer plainly and to keep the consignment in sight.
Getting to the aircraft from DeKalb
These are the gates within reach of DeKalb by car. The nearest, MDW, is 105 km away, about 1 hour 31 minutes, and each one is shown with what it reaches without a change of aircraft.
At 105 km the road is the longest part of the ground half. The desk timetables it explicitly from DeKalb and treats an overnight near MDW as a normal cost rather than an exception. A courier in DeKalb is not stuck with one board. ORD at 1 hour 36 minutes carries 295 nonstop destinations of its own, which is what stops a cancellation ending an assignment.
| IATA | Airport | By road | Driving time | Nonstop |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MDW | Chicago Midway | 105 km | 1 hour 31 minutes | 208 |
| ORD | Chicago O'Hare | 98 km | 1 hour 36 minutes | 295 |
| MKE | Milwaukee General Mitchell | 162 km | 2 hours 24 minutes | 90 |
DeKalb is a city of 43,000 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. Only airports this site publishes a scheduled nonstop board for are listed, so a smaller field nearer DeKalb may exist and still not appear in the table above.
What MDW reaches without a change
Below is what Chicago Midway actually flies, taken from the same scheduled route datthe rest of the site uses: 208 nonstop destinations, 15 carriers, ordered by average daily flights.
| IATA | City | Airport | Frequency | Operators |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ATL | Atlanta | Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson | about 11 departures a day | 3 operators: Southwest Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Frontier Airlines |
| MSP | Minneapolis | Minneapolis Wold-Chamberlain | about 9 departures a day | 2 operators: Southwest Airlines, Delta Air Lines |
| DAL | Dallas | Dallas Love Field | about 8 departures a day | 2 operators: Southwest Airlines |
| BNA | Nashville | Nashville | about 8 departures a day | 1 operator: Southwest Airlines |
| DEN | Denver | Denver | about 8 departures a day | 1 operator: Southwest Airlines |
| LGA | New York | New York La Guardia | about 8 departures a day | 1 operator: Southwest Airlines |
| PHX | Phoenix | Phoenix Sky Harbor | about 7 departures a day | 1 operator: Southwest Airlines |
| MCI | Kansas City | Kansas City | about 7 departures a day | 1 operator: Southwest Airlines |
| LAS | Las Vegas | Las Vegas McCarran | about 7 departures a day | 1 operator: Southwest Airlines |
| DCA | Washington | Washington Ronald Reagan National | about 7 departures a day | 1 operator: Southwest Airlines |
Counting every airport a courier in DeKalb 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 DeKalb
The site does not publish an industrial register for MDW, so this section stays short. Consignments out of DeKalb are typically documents, spare parts, laboratory samples and small high value items.
Why a courier in DeKalb is useful to the desk
A city qualifies for this list when three things are true at once: a real airport within a sensible drive, a real nonstop board on it, and something in the area worth moving. DeKalb clears all three, at 1 hour 31 minutes from MDW and 208 destinations.
Nothing flies MDW to the Emirates without a stop, so here is the honest version. From DeKalb the best single change is Atlanta (ATL), and ATL to AUH is flown by Etihad Airways, about one departure a day. Counting a normal connection that is around 18h 07m gate to gate, so an assignment between DeKalb 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 United States list
Show the 12 closest, and how far each is from DeKalb
Aurora40 km away, MDW in 1 hour 5 minutesElgin41 km away, ORD in 53 minutesRockford47 km away, ORD in 1 hour 46 minutesCrystal Lake50 km away, ORD in 1 hour 12 minutesWheaton54 km away, ORD in 52 minutesArlington Heights66 km away, ORD in 39 minutesJoliet71 km away, MDW in 1 hourOrland Park81 km away, MDW in 34 minutesJanesville87 km away, MKE in 1 hour 34 minutesWaukegan89 km away, MKE in 57 minutesKenosha106 km away, MKE in 46 minutesHammond111 km away, MDW in 46 minutes
All 370 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 MDW 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 1 hour 31 minutes drive to MDW. 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 MDW, 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 DeKalb list
01How far is DeKalb from MDW?
It is 1 hour 31 minutes by car, 105 km on the road. Traffic around DeKalb is allowed for separately, and the parking or the transfer at MDW is paid by the desk.
02What can I reach from DeKalb without a change of aircraft?
MDW serves 208 airports nonstop across 5 countries with 15 operating carriers, and counting every gate a courier in DeKalb 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 DeKalb to the Emirates: nonstop or not?
From DeKalb the best single change is Atlanta (ATL), and ATL to AUH is flown by Etihad Airways, about one departure a day. Counting a normal connection that is around 18h 07m gate to gate, so an assignment between DeKalb 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. What is checked is your passport, your right to enter the country on the routing, and how quickly you can reach MDW from DeKalb.
05Does it cost anything to apply?
No. Screening costs nothing and the DeKalb list costs nothing. The AED 199 Academy is paid once and refunded on top of your first completed assignment fee.
06How is my fee agreed?
What you are paid is agreed in writing before you leave DeKalb and is not adjusted afterwards. Waiting time and the return leg into DeKalb are inside that figure rather than extra to it.
Apply to fly out of MDW
A five minute form, a background check and a short course, and you are somebody the desk can call when a consignment has to leave DeKalb today.
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