This is passenger travel with a job attached. You are booked on a scheduled service out of MDW, in the cabin, with a sealed consignment that never leaves you. The reason the desk keeps names in Portage is that 65 km of road is a short enough lead time to say yes to a departure the same day.
Open · United States desk · Portage
On Board Courier, Portage
The desk keeps a courier list for Portage because MDW is close enough to matter: 65 km of road and 208 nonstop destinations from the terminal you walk into.
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 inPortage, Indiana
Nearest gateMDW · Chicago
Drive to the aircraft65 km · 1 hour 5 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
An assignment is quoted as a whole: the routing from MDW, the waiting time, the return, and one fee for all of it. 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. Nothing is deducted afterwards, and the drive of 1 hour 5 minutes to the airport is part of what the fee is calculated on.
Getting to the aircraft from Portage
Reachability, not size, is why Portage has a page here. Portage qualifies because Chicago Midway is 65 km away by road, 1 hour 5 minutes, and because that airport publishes a real scheduled nonstop board.
A ground leg of 1 hour 5 minutes is the standard case here. It leaves room for a delay on the road without putting the check in at MDW in doubt. Where MDW cannot help, ORD sometimes can. It is 1 hour 46 minutes from Portage and serves 295 airports without a change of aircraft.
| IATA | Airport | By road | Driving time | Nonstop |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MDW | Chicago Midway | 65 km | 1 hour 5 minutes | 208 |
| ORD | Chicago O'Hare | 98 km | 1 hour 46 minutes | 295 |
Portage is a city of 37,000 people in Indiana, 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 MDW reaches without a change
A gate 1 hour 5 minutes from Portage is only useful if it goes somewhere. MDW goes to 208 airports nonstop in 5 countries, and the heaviest routes on that board are shown here with the airlines that fly them.
| 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 Portage can drive to, the combined nonstop board is 370 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 Portage
Nothing is claimed here about what is made near Portage, because this site holds no public industrial file for MDW. The demand around Portage is the ordinary kind: a contract, a part, a batch that has to be somewhere else by morning.
Why a courier in Portage is useful to the desk
What the desk buys when it books a courier in Portage is the ground half of a delivery. The flying out of MDW is easy to arrange. Getting a trustworthy person and a sealed consignment to MDW inside a few hours is the part that fails, and 1 hour 5 minutes is why it does not fail here.
What a Gulf assignment out of Portage looks like on a ticket. From Portage 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 Portage 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 Portage
Hammond27 km away, MDW in 46 minutesOrland Park57 km away, MDW in 34 minutesJoliet76 km away, MDW in 1 hourSouth Bend78 km away, MDW in 2 hours 6 minutesWheaton84 km away, ORD in 52 minutesArlington Heights88 km away, ORD in 39 minutesAurora97 km away, MDW in 1 hour 5 minutesElkhart100 km away, MDW in 2 hours 24 minutesWaukegan104 km away, MKE in 57 minutesElgin105 km away, ORD in 53 minutesCrystal Lake120 km away, ORD in 1 hour 12 minutesKenosha124 km away, MKE 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 5 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 Portage list
01How far is Portage from MDW?
From the centre of Portage the drive is 65 km and roughly 1 hour 5 minutes. Where the departure is early enough to make that uncomfortable, the desk books a room near MDW instead.
02What can I reach from Portage without a change of aircraft?
MDW serves 208 airports nonstop across 5 countries with 15 operating carriers, and counting every gate a courier in Portage can drive to, the combined nonstop board is 370 airports. That is the practical range of a single assignment from here before anybody has to connect.
03Getting from Portage to the Emirates: nonstop or not?
From Portage 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 Portage 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. The company is Emirati and the coordination is done in Dubai, but the courier list is worldwide and Portage is on it precisely because somebody has to be near MDW.
05Does it cost anything to apply?
No. Applying from Portage costs nothing and screening costs nothing. The Academy is AED 199, paid once by everybody on the Portage list, and returned in full on top of the fee for your first completed assignment.
06How is my fee agreed?
The desk quotes the whole assignment: the sector out of MDW, the waiting, the return and the ground time. One figure for the trip out of MDW, agreed in advance and paid after the handover.
Apply to fly out of MDW
Sign up once for Portage. What happens after that is entirely your decision, one MDW departure at a time.
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