Not that uncommon. Here is a 10-year old story of the same happening to a seasoned professional, with a very valuable violin:
http://www.cozio.com/Instrument.aspx?id=4280
This lady is an old friend, sister of one of my piano & violin duo partners.
I'm a piano player. I have always envied most other instrumentalists, because they will know the instrument. About a generation ago, when I still used to go on stages and play, the thing that frightened me most wasn't the audience, or the critics, or the jury (if this was a competition or audition), but the fact that sitting on the stage is an unknown monster with 88 black and white teeth, which I had either never seen before, or met for a half hour warm-up hours before the performance. Everybody else went up on the stage accompanied by their very best friend; the partner that they can trust, and that they know intimately, because they have spent zillions of hours stroking it, or blowing into it. My violin-playing friends at least knew that the hardware and wetware would be capable of making beautiful music, whereas I had to rely on luck, and if luck failed, on my (marginal) experience with all manners of odd pianos. Often, too much of my brain was used on trying to get a decent sound out of piano, and figuring out its shortcomings.
Obviously, there were occasional great surprises. Like a chamber music evening in a small rural town, in a converted barn (with the big sister of the lady who lost her violin above). The audience looked like farmers, tractor dealers, little old church-going ladies, and the local corrupt politicians (elected from among the above-mentioned tractor dealers and local firefighters). But on the stage was a nearly new, immaculately well voiced 7-foot Boesendorfer. JACKPOT! My solo was the Busoni transcription of Bach's chaconne (where the extra bass keys came in handy), and the even and light touch really helped with the arpeggios in Ravel's Tzigane. I think we ended the evening with a big sonata (either a Brahms violin+piano sonata, or Beethoven's Kreutzer), and it was an absolute delight to make music there.
Anycase, getting back to transporting instruments: The only thing that being a piano player had going for it was: I didn't have to worry about transporting the instrument, making sure I know where it is, dealing with temperature changes and dry air in airplanes, or it getting rattled to death in the bottom of the bus.
