A gay couple in Virginia is suing
United-Continental airlines after the two men found a large dildo had
been removed from their checked checked luggage and taped to the top of
their suitcase - and then sent down to the baggage pickup carousel. Christopher
Bridgeman and Martin Borger say baggage handlers at Houston's George
Bush Intercontinental Airport invaded their privacy and targeted them
for humiliation because of their sexuality.
They
are seeking punitive damages to hold the airline accountable, they say,
after officials refused to respond to their complaints.
They picked up their bags in Houston,
as required for international flights, and then checked them again for
their trip back to Virginia.


Insulting: The couple says there was no there was no reason for the sex toy to be displayed like that if it wasn't deliberate


They were standing around the baggage
carousel in Norfolk with the other passengers from their plane, when the
defaced bag appeared. It
was wrapped in clear tape that had the Continental airlines logo on it.
The purple sex toy was prominently attached to the top.What's more, they say, some sort of foul-smelling grease had been smeared on it to make it appear that it had been 'used.'


'SO
EMBARRASSED, ABSOLUTELY MORTIFIED... just knowing that everyone in
sight had already seen it and after looking at their faces that depicted
disbelief, some were snickering, others completely astonished, and of
course, disgust was ubiquitous,' they wrote in an e-mail to Mr Hamar.There
was no reason for the sex toy to have been removed from the bag and no
reason for the bag to be bound in tape, the couple says.
The zippers on the luggage were intact and working fine and the sex toy had been secured inside the bag.


The
only reason the object was removed, they say, is because the airline
baggage handlers realized it was in a bag that had a man's name on the
luggage tag.