I am in India and regularly send shipments from India to US containing diet supplements. When I had problems with Fedex, I shifted to Airborne. I must say Airborne is smooth, has very fast check in and pickup. Makes it really easy for you when you have the consignee’s Airborne Account.
Airborne is very competitive in its rates and the sales staff is willing and helpful in going that extra bit ahead in offering you on-spot discounts upto 20-30% if you request them so. They do this by adjusting the volume/weight quota of each parcel (it all depends if they have some extra space left or the volume is low)
I got smooth delivery everytime I sent a parcel through them and the parcel reaches the nearest Airborne office (at destination) within 48 hours.
However, Airborne really needs to expand its office network and contact points in countries other than US. In India too, they have very less collection points which makes it difficult for the customers to send their parcels and Airborne also loses business in the process. Moreover, the online tracking system never remains uptodate. It is updated with long delays and interruptions in between. Like if you deposit a parcel on 18th May, the system will show a ’’Pickup’’ on 19th instead of an immediate update. However, I can do with it if it saves my costs.
Would definitely recommend for Small Businesses who don’t have shipping expenses of more than $1000 per month.