The influence of functional groups on the dynamics of exchange between a flowing bulk melt and the channel wall was studied for oligomeric polyolefins (up to C-16) using attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Surface transport is dominated by adsorbed layers whose structure is determined by functional groups and chain length. There are two distinct time scales for surface transport, both of order minutes and surprisingly long for molecules of this size. The longer time scale, which is observed only with chain functionalities that are likely to interact directly with the surface, appears to be caused by removal of an adsorbed mono- or bilayer. The shorter time scale, which was reported previously by Dietsche et al. (1995) for the hexadecane/hexadecene system, appears to be caused by depletion of a more loosely-structured layer, but one in which the packing is still sufficiently different from that of the bulk to retard the dynamics.