On-Board Courier Workflows

Run a hand-carry shipment door-to-door across multiple flight legs.

An on-board courier (OBC) order is a hand-carry shipment where one person accompanies the cargo from origin to destination across one or more flight legs. In the driver app, OBC isn’t a separate mode — it’s a single task group that contains pickup, board, depart, arrive, deboard, customs, and delivery tasks for each flight leg. This page covers what an OBC task group looks like and how to work it.

Before you start

  • The order was built as an Onboard courier segment by the forwarder. See Multi-leg orders for the forwarder side of the build.
  • You’re the assigned courier on the segment. OBC segments have one assigned person — the courier who’ll be on every leg.
  • You have travel documents and the cargo handling materials sorted before the assignment lands. The app doesn’t manage your travel itinerary; it reflects the flight legs the forwarder booked.

How an OBC task group looks in the app

An OBC task group is one row on the In Progress tab, the same as any other task group. Open it and you’ll see:

  • Pickup stop at origin (collect cargo from the shipper or warehouse).
  • Per-leg tasks — for each flight the forwarder added to the OBC segment, a sequence like: board, depart, arrive, deboard.
  • Customs / handling tasks at intermediate airports if the route needs them.
  • Delivery stop at destination.

OBC task groups can be long — a multi-stop, multi-leg shipment with customs may have 15+ tasks. They all live in one task group; you don’t jump between task groups across the trip.

See Orders for how task groups, tasks, and cargo relate, and Multi-leg orders — OBC for what the forwarder configured.

1. Pickup at origin

Same flow as any other pickup:

  1. Drive to the pickup stop. Tap the map pin to hand off to a maps app.
  2. Confirm with the point of contact, take the cargo into your custody.
  3. Capture any required proof artifacts — typically a photo of the cargo and a signature from the shipper. See Proof of delivery.
  4. Tap Complete on the pickup task.

2. Work the airport tasks

For each flight leg, the app shows tasks in the order they happen:

TaskWhat you do
BoardAcknowledge you’ve boarded with the cargo in your possession. Typically captured with a boarding pass photo or a signature.
DepartThe flight is wheels-up. Some forwarders use FlightAware-driven auto-completion here; others ask you to confirm manually.
ArriveThe flight has landed.
DeboardYou’re off the plane with cargo still in custody.
Customs / handlingIf the route includes a customs hold or a transfer, complete that task on the ground before moving to the next leg.

Capture board / deboard photos consistently — they’re the audit trail the forwarder uses to bill the shipper and to settle insurance if cargo is ever questioned.

3. Repeat per leg

If the route has multiple flights, the app surfaces the next leg’s tasks after the previous leg’s deboard is complete. Work them in the same shape: board, depart, arrive, deboard, then any handling tasks before the next flight.

4. Delivery at destination

Once the last flight’s deboard and any final customs / handling tasks are done, the delivery stop activates.

  1. Drive to the delivery address (or hand off to ground transport — depends on how the forwarder configured the route).
  2. Hand the cargo to the consignee.
  3. Capture the delivery artifacts — typically signature + delivery photo.
  4. Tap Complete on the delivery task.

The task group moves to Completed when every task is done.

Messaging and updates

Use the messages tab on the task group to coordinate with the forwarder during the trip — flight delays, customs holds, anything that affects timing. Dispatch sees these messages on the order page in the web app.

If a flight is delayed or rebooked, message the forwarder right away. The app reflects the originally-booked legs; if the forwarder rebooks, they’ll update the task group on their side and the new legs will appear in the app.

Live activity / lock-screen

On iOS, an OBC task group surfaces a live activity that shows the next task without unlocking the phone — useful when you’re moving through an airport and your hands are full.

How to know it worked

  • Every task on every leg has a completed state.
  • Forwarder sees the task group move to Completed on the web app.
  • The order’s billing statements (forwarder → shipper, forwarder → you) surface for review.

If something looks different

  • A flight leg shows the wrong flight number. The forwarder hasn’t swapped the flight yet, or did but didn’t push the update. Message them.
  • An auto-completing flight task hasn’t completed even after landing. FlightAware lag is the usual culprit. You can tap Complete manually once you’ve deboarded.
  • You can’t move past a customs task. Required artifacts may be missing. Open the task and check the artifact list.
  • A task group disappeared mid-trip. The forwarder may have cancelled or reassigned it. Pull to refresh; if it’s still gone, message the forwarder.
  • Contact hi@chrt.com for anything that looks systemically wrong with an OBC task group.
  • Multi-leg orders — how the forwarder builds an OBC segment, including saving flight legs and creating milestone tasks.
  • Proof of delivery — capturing photos and signatures at each leg.
  • Live location — how dispatch and the shipper see your position across the trip.
  • Orders — the task group / task / cargo data model.