I tried what gargole suggested and was assured I could do an onboard check, and found that what goes on the plane is decided by the crew not the person selling the ticket. I check it at the plane's door, but it got stored in the cargo area, The only thing that was differenrt was for a brief time it did'nt get into the hands of the handlers. At least until we arrived at the other end.
If you need your Martin for a gig, then it really leaves you with little choice.Buy a flight case as Rick suggested, just expect the worst. They will also require you to sign a waiver of liability and that gives you another warm fuzzy feeling.If you are in a bind and must get there with your Martin using a hard shell case, place extra soft padding inside securing from any movement and mummyfy the case with good duct tape. And still, you need some good luck. Mudjack