How to ship air freight. Chargeable weight, quote, booking and clearance in six steps.

Step 1: Decide air or ocean

Air when the goods are needed inside two weeks, when they are light for their value, or when the stockout costs more than the freight.

Ocean moves a container across the Pacific in two to six weeks for a fraction of the price per pound. Air moves a pallet in days for a multiple of it. The decision is rarely about the freight bill alone:

• Timing. A launch date, a production line waiting on a part, or a retailer’s chargeback for a late PO can each be worth more than the difference in freight.
• Value density. Electronics, apparel samples, medical devices and spare parts carry enough value per pound that air freight is a small share of landed cost.
• Size. From a pallet or two up to a few thousand pounds, air prices cleanly. A full container’s worth of goods belongs on a ship unless the deadline says otherwise.
• Mix. Many importers fly the first weeks of a season and ship the rest by ocean.

Step 2: Calculate the chargeable weight

Airlines bill by chargeable weight: the greater of the actual weight and the volumetric (dimensional) weight. Light, bulky cargo pays for the space it takes; dense cargo pays for what it weighs. Per piece, packed, including the pallet:

• Volumetric weight in kilograms = length × width × height in centimeters ÷ 6,000.
• Or in inches: length × width × height ÷ 166.
• Chargeable weight = whichever is higher, actual or volumetric, summed across the pieces.

A 48 by 40 by 48 inch pallet is 92,160 cubic inches, which is 555 kg volumetric. If it weighs 400 kg you pay for 555. Stack higher and the volumetric number rises faster than the scale does, so measure after packing, not before. The calculator at /tools/air-freight-calculator does the math from piece dimensions.

Step 3: Gather the booking details

An air booking prices in about a minute with these fields and goes to a quote desk without them:

• Origin city or airport, and destination ZIP (or airport for airport to airport).
• Piece count, dimensions and weight per piece, packed.
• Commodity description and HS code.
• Cargo ready date: when the supplier can hand over the packed goods.
• Incoterm: FOB or FCA means the supplier delivers to the origin airport or forwarder; EXW means you book the pickup.
• Dangerous goods. Lithium batteries (in or with equipment), aerosols, perfumes, magnets, dry ice and most liquids need a dangerous goods declaration, restrict which flights can carry them, and usually move on freighters rather than passenger aircraft.

Step 4: Get the quote and read what it includes

Air quotes come airport to airport, airport to door and door to door. Airport to airport is the headline rate and leaves the most to add. Ask for a door price and check that it itemizes:

• Origin pickup and export clearance, if the Incoterm puts them on you.
• The air freight itself, quoted per kilogram of chargeable weight, with fuel and security surcharges.
• Origin and destination terminal handling.
• Airport recovery in the US: collecting the cargo from the airline’s ground handler after it clears.
• Customs clearance by a licensed broker, and the truck to your door.

Duty and import taxes bill to the importer after arrival and never sit inside a freight rate. A customs bond is a separate line you buy once. On Warp the booking options show the price by speed tier, airport or door, with the flight, recovery, clearance and final delivery in one figure; duty bills to you after arrival. The September 2026 captures on the Shanghai to Chicago and Ho Chi Minh City to Los Angeles lanes ran 6 to 15 days door to door by tier; the current per pound figures are at /air.

Step 5: Book and hand over the cargo

Confirming the quote books space on a flight. Then the paperwork:

• Commercial invoice: seller, buyer, Incoterm, HS codes, unit values and currency.
• Packing list: pieces, dimensions and weights, matched to the invoice.
• Shipper’s letter of instruction: what the forwarder needs to cut the air waybill.
• Air waybill (AWB): the airline’s contract and receipt. The master AWB is the airline’s; the house AWB is the forwarder’s, and its number is what you track.
• Dangerous goods declaration, if anything on the packing list needs one.

Pack for the aircraft, not the truck:

• Skids under about 63 inches tall fit a passenger aircraft’s lower deck, which is most of the capacity on Asia to US lanes. Taller pieces wait for a freighter.
• Cartons strapped to the pallet and corner boarded. Cargo is built into containers and pallets at the airline and handled several times.
• Every piece labeled with the shipper, consignee and the AWB number.
• Cargo from an unknown shipper is screened piece by piece before it flies; allow a day for it.

Step 6: Track, clear and deliver

Track by house air waybill number. The milestones: received at origin, departed, arrived, transferred to the ground handler, customs released, recovered, out for delivery. The flight itself is one to three days. What sets the delivery date is everything around it:

• Origin: pickup, export clearance and the cutoff for the booked flight, usually a day or two.
• Destination: airline breakdown and the ground handler’s release, often a day.
• Customs: the entry is filed by a licensed broker, usually before the plane lands if the documents arrived with the booking. An exam adds days.
• Recovery and delivery: a truck collects from the handler and delivers to your door, a day or two more.

Door to door on Asia to US lanes typically runs one to two weeks. Having the importer of record, the bond and the invoice in the broker’s hands before departure is the single biggest lever on the back half.

How to ship air freight on Warp

An origin city and a US ZIP. Booking options priced from real flight schedules.

• In the form above, keep Shanghai or pick another origin city, and type the US ZIP the goods are going to.
• Enter the pieces with their packed dimensions and weight. The chargeable weight is worked out for you.
• Review the booking options by speed tier, airport or door, each with the flight, recovery, clearance and delivery in one figure.
• Book. The booking is confirmed the same day; duty and import tax bill to you after arrival.
• Track the shipment from pickup through clearance to the door in the portal.

Common air freight mistakes

• Quoting on actual weight. Measure packed pieces and quote on chargeable weight, or the invoice will not match the quote.
• Comparing airport to airport with door to door. Add recovery, clearance and delivery before deciding.
• Undeclared lithium batteries. The shipment is pulled at screening and the penalty is yours.
• Pallets over 63 inches. They miss the passenger flight and wait for a freighter.
• Documents that arrive after the plane. The broker cannot file the entry without the invoice; the cargo sits in the handler’s warehouse and storage bills by the day.
• Flying a full container’s worth of goods. Split the order: the first weeks by air, the balance by ocean.