HOUSTON (CN) - A federal judge dismissed claims that Continental Airlines took a dildo from the luggage of a gay couple, greased it and taped it to the outside of their bag.
The humiliating display allegedly occurred while Christopher Bridgeman and Marin Borger returned to Virginia from Costa Rica.
The couple had picked up their luggage intact in Houston, went through customs and rechecked their bags for the next flight to Norfolk.
But while waiting at the baggage carousel in Virginia, the men allegedly found that someone had removed a sex toy from their luggage, taped it to the top of the bag and smeared it with "a greasy foul-smelling substance."
A description of the sex toy in question does not appear in the suit that the men filed this summer against Continental and United Continental Holdings in Harris County Court. In a photograph of the luggage posted by one blogger, however, there is a large purple dildo taped to a black duffel bag.
U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt dismissed the complaint Thursday.
The Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air, commonly known as the Montreal Convention, pre-empts the claims for damages related to the mishandling of luggage, according to the ruling.
Adopted in 1999, the Montreal Convention sets conditions and limits for the damages that passengers can seek.
Borger and Bridgeman were unable to circumvent the treaty to find relief, according to the four-page order.
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