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I have a problem with an important document that needs to pass from one person to another.

Person A bringing the document transits Orly on Saturday evening (going through the public spaces, with several hours of slack time, enough to go to some airport hotel but not enough to get into some random place in Paris).

Person B gets to Orly on Sunday afternoon (and would like to just leave by plane as soon as possible, but that plane is not booked yet, and he's not leaving without the document, because it's his passport!).

There is no luggage deposit at Orly (and I suspect most deposit services would only return things to the person that effected the deposit, or would have some physical token that would present the same problem).

There would be no problem having the document inspected, it's just a passport.

None of the persons have access to any prestige Air France frequent flyer services (both are traveling low-cost and regretting it).

The possibilities I see right now are:

  • Deposit with a Person C I know in Paris, who would need to meet up with Person A on a Saturday evening, and again with person B on Sunday evening, with transport costs I estimate at some 150 euros in addition to all the hours of bother inflicted on just a friend.

  • Find a hotel close to Orly that Person B can reserve a room at, where Person A would deposit the document and Person B would get it (and maybe not even sleep in the room if he can get a plane later in the evening). It would probably have to be an upscale hotel though.

  • Deposit at a lost-and-found and hope that Person B can get it out . . . no, just joking, any of the two previous solutions are better!

Is there any other way?

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    Check-in agent to person A: “have you been given anything to carry on behalf of someone else?” Person A: “errrm...a passport” Related question travel.stackexchange.com/questions/74743/… – Traveller Apr 26 at 16:25
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    Why not use an international courier service to transport the passport from person A to person B? Fedex or UPS for instance, parcel is trackable and signed for on receipt, and express services available. Perhaps costly but a lot less complicated. – canonacer Apr 26 at 18:18
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    @NateEldredge If the passport is turned into the lost-and-found, there's at least the possibility it really gets reported as lost to the authorities, invalidating it. I'd want to be very sure that doesn't happen. – Zach Lipton Apr 26 at 21:05
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    Bad luck, there’s a service to do exactly that available... at CDG airport, not Orly :-( There’s a most office at Orly, but it looks like it’s a minimally-staffed thing (maybe not staffed at all, really), so trying to use Poste Restante services does not seem to be an option. You could try a local courier service (called a “coursier” in France) to get the passport delivered directly to the right person, though it may be costly. Or you could give it to an Uber or a taxi driver for delivery, but you must trust them to do their job... – jcaron Apr 26 at 22:27
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    While I can see how the effort required of them is an issue, I’m struggling to understand how travel costs for your friend in Paris to get to Orly and back twice would be anywhere near 150 euros. – Chris H Apr 27 at 7:04
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The best I was able to find is Eelway which charges €70 to meet you at Orly airport, pick up your bag and return it to you at the airport the next day. You can authorize a third party to receive your bag. It's a bit expensive, but perhaps worth it to have a reputable company handling your belongings. Note that they only offer such service from 7am to 9pm daily.

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    That's very interesting. It's mindblowing that they charge you 70€ to keep your bag for some 24 hours but only 45€ to send it somewhere else in France, and their "live chat" (frontend to zendesk mail) and telephone answering machine have not yet yielded any response (I called at 18:50 local time following a tip from someone else). Still, if it works this is definitely the best and cheapest solution. – Law29 Apr 26 at 22:13
  • I think their 40€~50€ prices are only available if no airports are involved. – krubo Apr 27 at 8:14
  • I was going to accept this answer, but when their "live" support replied after 15 hours, they just quoted their website and asked for "more information" without any indication they had read the mail that they were replying to, that in my mopinion contained all relevant information. The only useful additional information was that they request booking of their services 24/48 hours in advance. Passing by Eelway's Orly meeting point, B reports that the Orly information personnel standing in exactly that spot have never heard of the company. I suppose the service is by prior appointment only! – Law29 Apr 28 at 19:48

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