It used to be, up until fairly recently, that traveling as an air courier offered the opportunity for the flexible and savvy traveler to get to Europe cheaply and fairly easily. However, it appears that this mode of travel will become a thing of the past. A recent article posted on the MSNBC website by Alexander Basek and George Hobika detailed many of the reasons why air courier travel doesn't provide anywhere near as many opportunities for cheap airfare tickets as it used to. For one thing, air travel in the Post-9/11 world is much more complicated and time-consuming than it was, with air couriers facing much more scrutiny than they did six years ago. For another thing, because of a tougher bottom line for all of the airlines, these fares do not provide the cheap air fares that they used to. As the MSNBC article stated, "While companies face tough times, rock bottom fares have disappeared. Traveling as an air courier, which used to be a much cheaper way to fly long-haul than buying a regular fare, isn't so any more. It also offers less flexibility for the passenger and often doesn't provide any hold-baggage allowance." Finally, couriers face increasing competition from conventional air delivery services. After all, the article notes, "why send a courier to Hong Kong when FedEx has 30 frequencies weekly to China?" So, if you were planning to find budget air fares by flying as a courier, you may have to rethink your travel plans and find your cheap air fares elsewhere, like a budget air fares website.