Posted on 08/28/2012 10:00:45 AM PDT by scottjewell
HOUSTON (CN) - A gay couple claims in court that Continental Airlines workers humiliated them by taking a dildo from their baggage and taping it outside the bag for everyone in baggage claim to see.
Christopher Bridgeman and Martin Borger sued United Continental Holdings and Continental Airlines in Harris County Court.
The men say they arrived in Houston from Costa Rica, retrieved their undisturbed checked luggage and after going through Customs rechecked their bags for a flight to Norfolk, Va.
"Upon arriving in Norfolk, plaintiffs exited the aircraft and went to the baggage claim area," the complaint states. "Plaintiffs' bags were sent to the baggage carousel where plaintiffs discovered, to their horror, that a private sex toy had been removed from one of their bags, covered in a greasy foul-smelling substance and taped prominently to the top of their bag.
"Plaintiffs experienced extreme shock and horror when they observed the above-described bag and when observing the surprised and/or laughing faces of numerous onlookers in the baggage claim area.
"Plaintiffs were experiencing such a high degree of shock and embarrassment that they felt compelled to call two friends to come to the airport to assist them.
"Fortunately, the friends arrived and were able to assist plaintiffs out of the airport and to their home, but by that time the damage had already been done, and plaintiffs had suffered severe emotional trauma."
The men claim the baggage handlers probably pulled the prank "because of the fact that the sex toy was contained in the bag of a male, and because the employee(s) responsible knew that the bag belonged to a male due to the name tag attached to the bag and the male clothing contained in the bag."
They seek punitive damages for intentional infliction of emotional distress, invasion of privacy and negligence.
They are represented Harry Scarborough.
United and Continental Airlines merged in May 2010 to form one of the world's largest airlines.
Such exposure probably goes like this 9 times out of 10.
Texting/Facebook/Twitter: “So humiliated by the experience”
Texting: “Can’t wait to tell u over drinks”
Texting: “LOL”
Right, and it doesn’t look anywhere near like the hoax they had described, nor anything that would have scores of fellow travelers laughing. I smell a rat.
Exactly, they would have had it , erm, as a “carry on”.
Interestingly, while I can’t actually find a story about this from when it happened (apparently, the media wasn’t all that interested in the story), the lawsuit story is getting picked up by everybody. Of course, it’s entirely coincidental I’m sure that this is happening during the republican convention.
I've always assumed that all bags are opened because baggage handlers are looking for stuff to steal. Most are union scum.
Ha, so she at least was not traumatized, as the 2 men were - makes me wonder more and more if they didn’t cook this up as a money scam. It’s highly suspicious, the more so with your added pic and info. Once more, thank you.
Yep... each one of us that has seen it contributes to their trauma.
We'll probably all be named in another law suit. /s
They say they were so tramautized, that they took PICTURES of the bag, and posted them on the internet.
Yeah, some timing - and why is it being picked up all over the web? Curiouser and curiouser. just plain hinky...
If you read the story, even their telling of it, they didn’t take the bag to claims, or report it. They left with it, went home, and then sent an e-mail asking for an apology. Continental got back to them (again according to their OWN story) saying they would “look into it”, but they were upset it took Continental longer than the “10 days” they had given them to apologize.
I don’t know what Continental was supposed to do. The gay couple reported nothing stolen, and they CLAIMED that their bag was undamaged. Continental probably could find no evidence for anything, and without any claim of damage, what else would the airline do?
They probably questioned everybody who worked that night, and nobody talked. They probably looked at surveillance, and found nothing. Maybe they asked the workers in Norfolk.
Remember, in order for this story to be true, someone had to know the dildo was in the bag. That would be the scanners in Houston. But for the story to be true, those scanners had to re-do the zipper to the center of the bag, hang the dildo out the opening (yes — the dildo wasn’t taped to the outside, it was in the bag), and then tape the bag.
Then, the baggage handlers had to handle the bag to put it on the plane. (meaning they would have to expose other bags to the foul-smelling stuff on the dildo, if the story is true). Then the handlers in Norfolk had to handle the bag, and the passengers in the terminal had to see and smell the thing, and then NONE of them had to report anything, or complain aboug foul-smelling stuff being smeared on THEIR bags from the bag.
Could the story be true? Sure. But it seems highly implausible that this bag with smelly substances was tightly loaded in an airline and nobody said a word.
I don’t know — that thing is HUGE, and just thinking about what you might do with that, well yes, that isn’t a laughing matter.....
Your post calls to mind the original “Parent Trap,” when the father was scolding his twin daughters for pranking his girlfriend.
LOL
Only if you LOLed!
Excellent points, quite astute, and yes, it is possible but highly improbable. Were they truly traumatized they would have - or their friends would have - asked to speak to a TSA supervisor immediately and shown the bag. Not taken it with them.
There have to be cameras all along the way, particularly in the baggage claim area.
I would be interested to know whether TSA will produce them, or claim some sort of security exemption from a subpoena.
The bag may have been partially zipped up (jammed) and the teeth on the other side of the zipper could have burst from pressure AFTER the bag was taped up (exposing the penis substitute).
To prove a case of “intentional” distress in this case will be difficult. As a civil case, they would only need 51% of the evidence to support their case.
Even less for an out of court settlement with threats from the Lavender Mafia.
It would be something if they were to produce them and prove a hoax.
That photo of the purple dildo has traumatized me and I’m suing you and Free Republic
I have had the note before, but the theft incidents had no note.
I went round and round with the airline about it, they are, after all, the carrier and liable for the safe delivery of my bag.
The airline basically said it happens all the time and is out of our hands, gave me a TSA form to fill out and told me to take it up with them.
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