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.
This stinks of attention getting and fraud.
I smiled and chuckled a bit, but no one heard me. I hope I'm safe. /s
Somebody set them up the bum?
Something odd about this story.
Something very queer about it. Fraud comes to mind. An attempt to have the vacation paid for by the airline after the fact
Same here, and I hope it gets found out. Extortion.
Or are they seeking a shakedown payoff to walk away without going to court?
They’re trying to make someone else pay for the vacation they couldn’t afford
Thailand...?
I will say this — it seems that to prove harm, they will have to find at least one person who observed the harm, who will testify. If they do, then at least we’ll know that the bag came out that way, but not whether it was just an unfortunate occurance.
It seems posting the pictures on the internet would work against them, as will the lack of a report made on the scene. I can’t imagine why anybody who had a bag broken open and taped like that wouldn’t immediately go to the baggage damage claim desk and file a claim, just in case things fell out of the bag, or the bag itself had to be replaced.
I’m also imagining how many e-mails the executives must get every single day from irate people claiming their bags were mishandled. I imagine testimony that they get 1000 e-mails a day would discount the argument that they took too long to respond to this one complaint.
though, I’d imagine they’d be on camera somewhere
I would find it hard to believe the baggage is not on camera throughout its transit
They wear protective gloves and DIDN'T want to touch "it". The saying goes "you don't know where it's been", but in this case, they had a very likely notion.
it is a hoax. as a former baggage worker for United, I can assure you it did not happen the way it is portrayed here.
I do, however, find the summoning of the two friends to help with their trauma (drama?)hysterical..
Funny how gays don’t object to flaunting their sex life in front of but play the victim when someone else does it.
I highly doubt they’re as much traumatized as opportunists.
Funny how gays don’t object to flaunting their sex life in front of but play the victim when someone else does it.
I highly doubt they’re as much traumatized as opportunists.
In all seriousness, Free Dildo Republic?
Oh how the mighty have fallen.
ha ha ha ha ;-)
Destruction of personal property. Doesn’t matter what it was or that these two fudge packers were gay, property in bags should be secure from those trolls.
Thank the Lord for Freepers. “Hmm. Covered with grease and still held? Must’ve been some good tape.”
From the ridiculous to the sublime.
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