Air cargo booking
and flight monitoring by AWB
Booking air cargo is more than finding the lowest rate. What matters is whether the carrier accepts cargo of these dimensions, how many transfers the route has and how often that flight offloads cargo when overbooked. We choose the flight on these criteria, secure the booking and then follow the cargo by AWB number until delivery.
Airline status messages arrive with delays and in codes — RCS, DEP, ARR, NFD. We turn them into clear events, recalculate the ETA and tell you when something goes off plan.
Specification
Specification · Booking and monitoring. Standard terms · flight and rate are fixed in the booking confirmation
Service
- Service
- flight selection and booking, AWB tracking
- Channels
- client portal, e-mail, API
- Options
- back-up flight, webhooks to TMS/ERP
Terms
- Timing
- flight options — same day
- Documents
- booking confirmation and AWB included
- Currency
- USD / RUB
Logistics
- Before departure
- comparison, booking, cut-off
- In transit
- RCS / DEP / ARR statuses, offload control
- After
- NFD, release, delivery ETA
Price
- Base
- monitoring included in the freight rate
- Extras
- integration with your system — on request
Service flow
- 01
Cargo details
We take airports, ready date, weights and dimensions and check whether a freighter is needed or a passenger aircraft's lower deck will do.
same day - 02
Flight comparison
We compare 2–3 options by price, transit time, number of transfers and carrier reliability and agree the choice with you.
same day - 03
Booking and AWB
We book space, obtain confirmation with flight, rate and cut-off, and issue the AWB number.
1 day - 04
Monitoring
We track AWB events: acceptance, departure, transfer, arrival, arrival notice; if the cargo is offloaded we move it to the back-up flight at once.
throughout the flight - 05
Release and delivery
We report customs release, recalculate the delivery ETA and close the shipment with proof of delivery.
until delivery
Problems
The cargo was tendered for the flight but offloaded due to overbooking, and nobody found out until a day later.
We check the DEP status right after departure; if the cargo is not on board, we move it to the pre-selected back-up flight.
The terminal measured different dimensions — the cargo won't fit the lower deck and the booking is cancelled.
We book on actual piece sizes verified by warehouse measurement and photos, and put tall pieces on a freighter from the start.
Statuses are scattered across airline websites and e-mails, and the logistician has to piece the picture together manually.
We collect events in one place — the client portal, e-mail or your own system via API.
Documents
An accurate booking needs the actual weight and dimensions of every piece, not an approximate cubic metre. Lower-deck space on passenger aircraft is height-limited, and wrong dimensions are a common reason for offloading.
Incoterms
- FCA
- the buyer books the flight through their forwarder
- CPT
- the seller chooses and pays for the flight
- EXW
- the buyer controls everything from pickup to booking
Documents
- Booking request
- airports, ready date, weight, dimensions and piece count, nature of goods
- Booking confirmation
- flight, date, rate, cut-off and terminal delivery time
- Packing List
- piece weights and sizes — decide whether the cargo fits a lower deck
- AWB
- 11-digit number: airline prefix plus serial — the key to tracking
FAQ
An AWB number has 11 digits: the first three are the airline prefix, the rest the waybill number. With it you can see the status on the carrier's website or with us — in the client portal, with the codes explained. If you have a HAWB number, tracking goes through the forwarder.
They are standard air cargo event codes: RCS — received at the terminal, DEP — departed, ARR — arrived at destination, NFD — consignee notified of arrival, DLV — delivered. If there is no DEP for your waybill after the flight has left, the cargo was most likely offloaded.
We follow the whole way: we select and book the flight and then track status by AWB number until delivery. Booking and monitoring are one service, not two separate steps.
Yes, we deliver events via API and webhooks: departure, transfers, arrival and ETA flow into your TMS/ERP automatically, with no manual copying from e-mails. For smaller volumes the client portal and e-mail notifications are enough.
Yes, any deviation triggers an automatic alert, and the dispatcher immediately works out an alternative flight if the delay affects your deadline. We pick the back-up option already at booking.