I assume that the lobsters are starting their journey from New England. So no matter what state they are coming from, the lobsters have to go through Logan Airport in Boston. Fed Ex and UPS have a large shipping center there and all their planes are there for this area. So if they are coming from Maine, a local freight company picks them up, marks them and they either go to Boston by a refrigerated truck or a small local air freight company. The closer to Portland, the better chance of flying them to Boston.
So they get to Portland and probably wait for up to five hours for a flight to Boston. Portland is the only airport that has flights to Boston. They make it over to the Fed Ex terminal and get in the right plane. All Fed Exes take off at the same time. More sitting time. They go to Tennessee for sorting, on another plane to their destination, on to a truck for delivery. No wonder they take four days.
On summer days I take my knitting or whatever and go sit at the beach and watch the planes get in line for takeoff. It is only about a half mile across the beach. At low tide I could walk over there. Fed Ex and UPS get priority for takeoff. They take off about two minutes apart. In the meantime, all passenger planes are waiting at the very end of this parade. Whenever I fly out of Boston, I get an eleven a.m. flight. After that the crazies start and you sit in the plane for sometimes up to 30 minutes or longer waiting to take off. So it is lobsters over people.
Sometimes people think if they carry the lobsters on and put them in the overhead, they will get them there faster. Sorry folks. You have to open the box, prove that they are alive and then seal it up again. You can't carry dead things on a plane. (Bacteria) Do you know anyone who carries tape with them on a flight? So you get out of line, someone takes you to a little room with all the stuff you need to seal it up again while they watch, they stamp the box as being examined, you get back in line and go through security again! Oh what fun. In the meantime you have probably missed your flight. And all for a lobster.