You are basically putting your faith into a system that is very much at the discretion of whoever happens to be in charge at that given time.
Look at the guy who paid for an extra seat to take his Cello on American Airlines, then got shut down by West Jet in Vancouver.
It would definitely be a big hassle for someone to shut you down if it was in checked baggage, so i can see how that would offer less chance of a mishap.
I was taking my Chihuahua as checked baggage a few years back, even though i had done it several times before, and was all of a sudden told he would have to go in cargo.
I had to make a pretty big deal and go through 3 different staff before they basically just said okay.
Worst part...there was one other dog and one cat on the same plane.
Made 0 sense.
Have flown with him 5-10 times since to Canada, Mexico and USA and no issues since.
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