Has anyone thought about what the thin air and low temperature could do to someone in a crate in the cargo hold of a jet? 
Link to column: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/051230.html – CKDH
I’d put money on it.
Since some (not all who tried) folks have managed to survive flights in the wheel wells of flights, it’s pretty clear that it is possible to survive a flight in the cargo compartment of an airplane. And to clear up a misconception, the cargo area is pressurized, it’s not exposed to outside air pressure like the wheel wells are. Don’t forget, that’s where your pets ride.
Does anybody else remember the Lou Reed short story “The Gift”, recorded with loud music as backing on the Velvet Underground’s second LP? Google “Waldo Jeffers had reached his limit”. If you’re not in trouble on the way, you might be when you get there…
Ha! I was going to bring that one up if no one else had.
Welcome to the Straight Dope Message Board, Brady, glad to have you with us.
When you start a thread, it’s helpful to other readers if you provide a link to the column being discussed. Yes, it’s on the front page now, but in a week it will float into the abyss of the Archives; so, it saves searching time to provide a link. No biggie, you’ll know for next time. And, as I say, welcome.
Another thought on the column that hasn’t been mentioned: Although, as Cecil pointed out, he is fictional, Flat Stanley still travels frequently via U.S. Mail. Schoolchildren draw their own Flat Stanleys and send them to famous people, who send back photographs and stories of their experiences. Even President Bush has had a chance to meet this intrepid young traveler. Yeah, he’s fake, but then again, so are Beavis and Butt-Head.
In Chapter 3 of Lewis Carroll’s “Through the Looking-Glass” Alice is on a train without a ticket. Someone suggests “putting a post on her head” to send her through the mail.
Obviously the idea of sending a human being through the mail goes back to the 1800’s.
And your Brylcreem. Hasn’t anyone else discovered an exploded mess of goo in their bags, traveling just to Denver? Just think what would happen at six miles high.
(referring to Cecil’s comment, “I got a little help on this answer from the Teeming Millions via the Straight Dope Message Board.”)
Right… isn’t that when the actual slave incident mentioned in the column happened?
There’s also Woody Guthrie’s Mail Myself to You (link is to the lyrics). I heard this on a CD of kids songs just a few years ago. Fun song!