Hello all. I have a trip planned on a discount airline (Canjet). My fiddle is longer than their carry-on limits, so they say I won't be able to keep it with me (I am pressing them for an exception, since it's so fragile and valuable and since other airlines have let me carry it on, but it doesn't look optimistic).

They won't guarantee the fiddle's safety if I check it. They have offered to give it special treatment, like loading it last and taking it off first and delivering it to me at the gate, but I'm still scared by this. I asked if it would be in a hospitable environment like how dogs and cats are carried (at least I hope they get a hospitable environment - no way I'd ever take my cat on a flight), but they said no - it would be in a nonheated, nonpressurized place with the rest of the luggage.

So my basic question is this - suppose I decide to trust them not to drop my fiddle or put some other bag on top of it. Will spending hours in a cold, very low pressure compartment in itself damage my fiddle? I have no idea what the humidity would be like. I can pack it carefully against damage from rough handling, but is there any way of packing it that will help protect it from the airplane environment?

It's no Stradivarius, but it would be terrible for anything to happen to it... but I need it. I've got to go play Maple Sugar with Willie-o.

Thanks, Marion