Cockroaches on a Plane: Couple Sues Over Insect Invasion During AirTran Flight (With Pics!)
- Posted on November 13, 2011 at 11:21pm by
Christopher Santarelli
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Air Tran Airways may offer low fares, but the company is now facing a lawsuit from a North Carolina couple who claim that they were ignored despite bugging flight attendants about cockroaches coming out of the air vents on their flight.
WCNC-TV reports that Charlotte attorney Harry Marsh and his fiancee, Kaitlin Rush, saw the cockroaches soon after takeoff on a Sept. 15 flight from Charlotte to Houston with a stop-over in Atlanta. They say flight attendants were too busy to investigate the problem, and one attendent made a “shush” sign with her index finger against her mouth, when the problem was brought up again:
Marsh said Rush became nauseous and now doesn’t want to fly. Marsh and Rush claim several other passengers became aware and distressed by the cockroaches, which came out of both air vents and storage areas when the flight took off. AP reports that the couple is claiming mental and emotional distress, and seeking more than $100,000, plus the price of their tickets. WCNC notes that they took pictures of the cockroaches and included them as exhibits in the lawsuit:
Marsh also told WCNC that the couple had to throw away some of their belongings and wash others out of concern that cockroaches got on their clothes and into their luggage.
Air Tran has said it can’t comment on pending litigation, but denies several allegations made in the case filing. AP notes that the airline says cleanliness is important and that planes are regularly and professionally treated for bugs.
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Comments (114)
blaaaaackwoman
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 11:46pmOops, pardon me I thought this was about the Penn State Athletic department, perverted cockroaches everyone of them including the head coach Joe Pervertino..
Report Post »demint.disciple
Posted on November 14, 2011 at 6:56amcouple is claiming mental and emotional distress, and seeking more than $100,000, plus the price of their tickets. <<<< Problem with this nation sue over ANYTHING.. lol @ emotional distress..
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on November 14, 2011 at 8:00amOff hand… I’d say… Texas! If you have lived there… you know. La cucaracha…
Report Post »13th Imam
Posted on November 14, 2011 at 9:36amBlaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack
Report Post »I thought this story was about our Thief in Chief in the Whitehouse. Barry directs his Pervert General Eric Holder, noted Caucasian Hater.
mils
Posted on November 14, 2011 at 10:43amone more story about penn….
Report Post »MommyNeedsMoreCoffee
Posted on November 14, 2011 at 11:12amAre we sure they didn’t carry the cockroaches on board in their pockets? He’s a lawyer after all….
Report Post »Homeschoolmama
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 11:43pmThey live in Charlotte, NC. They’ve seen cockroaches before! They are all over the south. Although they are gross and I do not want them near me, I definitely would not sue over it. This is ridiculous, but the plane definitely needs to be sprayed.
Report Post »Eliasim
Posted on November 14, 2011 at 1:17amIt takes a certain kind of person to sue someone else. Someone not satisfied by telling themselves that they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I don‘t fly because people currently in the world don’t thrill me.
Report Post »SgtB
Posted on November 14, 2011 at 8:17amCockroaches ain’t junk! Ever visited Florida and had a palmetto bug come out from under the bed? The things look like a roach but about 5X the size. They even raise up on their legs to look bigger and intimidate stuff. It sure worked on my wife.
But what is this guy suing for? Because nature got on a plane and it upset him? I say we should take “men” like this and put them in the stocks while everyone gets their turn desensitizing the “man” to bugs so that next time he’ll just squash the bug instead of whining to a 90 lb woman about it and then suing her employer for 3 times her yearly salary.
Report Post »garbagecanlogic
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 11:32pmThose aren’t cockroaches, those are some of Barry’s administration.
The U.S. Out Of The U.N.
Report Post »The U.N. Out Of The U.S.
Doctor Nordo
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 11:22pmWhat did they really expect the flight attendants to do? Break out the insecticide and start spraying it through the plane’s ventilation system mid-flight? Granted, you should expect to board a plane and NOT have it infested with roaches, but once you’re mid-air there’s really nothing that can be done.
And sueing for their ruined clothing? Lol. Stick that shi in the washer and quit complaining.
Report Post »demint.disciple
Posted on November 14, 2011 at 6:58amMega Dittos
Report Post »Benetto
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 11:10pmIt’s offical, cockroaches are related to OWS people… they both want a free ride!
Report Post »The-Monk
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 11:33pmNo, it’s Anton Szandor Lavey. The mentor of BHO… the gospel of Van Jones, the book of George Soros, the play-right of Pelosi and Reid.. the death of us all, the progessive movement… OWS.
Report Post »Cesium
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 10:46pmLast time I opened a broken computer to find out why it wouldn’t switch on, there was a cockroach fried on the motherboard.
Report Post »The-Monk
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 11:09pmYou too? It happens with laptops more than desktops. Carpenter ants do more damage than roaches. The strange thing is that so many people live with German Cockroaches that you can see them anywhere’s; planes, restaurants, buses, computers and while traveling. I wonder where these/this cockroach really came from? Probably from a passenger and most likely from the passenger that filed the lawsuit.
Report Post »HumbleCitizen
Posted on November 14, 2011 at 6:29amThats exactly where the term “bugged” came from relating to lmalfunctioning computers.
Report Post »FedupinFlorida2
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 10:26pmOh Stop it! I would be annoyed and point it out but please let’s start a panic over some cockroaches. Traumatize, please stay at home in the fetal position. A $100,000 what a disgrace, oh and the tickets, I guess their trauma has a price.
Report Post »nelbert
Posted on November 14, 2011 at 2:14amDoes seem a bit ridiculous. What fragile flowers they must be. But nothing $100,000 can’t cure.
Report Post »demint.disciple
Posted on November 14, 2011 at 7:01amYeah exactly , Who set the the price of comfort for Marsh and Rush at 100,000 dollars PLUS plain air fair ? Why not 200,000 , Too much ?? lmfao
Report Post »HADEN0UGH
Posted on November 14, 2011 at 9:31amMy wife would absolutely freak seeing a cockroach on the plane. They might have had to turn the plane around. She has severe blattodephobia.
Report Post »BannedByHuffpo
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 10:24pmHey! Those aren’t “cockroaches”!! They’re an “in-flight snack”. That’ll cost you an additional $20 bucks.
Report Post »Salamander
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 11:58pmDon’t laugh, I’ve seen a guy in a bar (in another corner of this World) catch them in his hand and eat them! They make a great beer snack! And, unlike Japan, he didn’t cook them first!
Report Post »Therightsofbilly
Posted on November 14, 2011 at 1:11am@Salamander
That’s funny. When they told the flight attendant about the roach, the attendant should have leaned in close and said………Shhhhhhhhhhh, not so loud, everyone will want one.
Report Post »gmoneytx
Posted on November 14, 2011 at 3:01pmGood one!
Report Post »RightThinking1
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 10:22pmI am of the opinion that the roaches simply sensed the presence of one of their own kind, and wanted to say hello.
Report Post »GBMBulletsSKNRD
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 11:09pmThat’s a good one. LMAO
Report Post »I.Gaspar
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 10:14pmThey weren’t cockroaches. They were Occupy AirTan useless lib idiots.
Report Post »They are often mistaken for cockroaches.
piper60
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 10:17pmObama’s newest czars, you mean.
Report Post »RLTW
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 10:53pmUndercover TSA agents, or they could be Al-Qaida.
Report Post »The-Monk
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 11:13pmDid you guys see the cockroach in, “The Fifth Element”?
Report Post »Walkabout
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 10:10pmAs Michael Savage says, lawyers are told that for their first case, they should sue someone in their family. Maybe this guy saw an opportunity to sue is all.
Report Post »DADA
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 10:09pmI just want to know how these cockroaches got by the TSA guys.
Report Post »barber2
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 10:15pmPlease don’t mention! We’ll have a new layer of governmental job creation : The TSA insect regulators !
Report Post »sissykatz
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 10:07pmHow ridiculous….I don’t like the disease carriers either.But I bet
Report Post »I could have taken my shoe and got rid of them.Maybe the airlines
would have offered tickets or something. BUT A LAW SUIT????
People are crazy. Of couse he is an attorney so they can file nuisance
law suits all the time and I bet they do…Hope the judge throws the
suit out…. Thats crazy..Wonder what they wanted the attendant to do???
They can’t spray on the plane because too many people are allergic to
the spray. Insane…..
Brooke Lorren
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 10:25pmThey better hope that I‘m not on the jury because I wouldn’t award them anything beyond the price to refund their ticket.
Report Post »demint.disciple
Posted on November 14, 2011 at 7:04amThey’re even lucky to get that, I mean come on..
Report Post »Luker410
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 10:00pmOk, if passengers would stop flying in dirty tank tops and flip flops, the planes wouldn’t become infested.
Report Post »Therightsofbilly
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 10:42pmDing ding ding.
We have a winner.
I‘d prefer the roaches to some of the passengers I’ve had to sit next to.
Report Post »chicagopunkie
Posted on November 14, 2011 at 8:33pmYou got that right, LUKER410! That’s a good one.
I work for the airlines (not this one) and if I ever saw a cockroach, I know I’d definitely freak out and probably start screaming. Enough so that they’d probably fire me for acting inappropriately while traveling on a pass.
Report Post »I don’t believe in frivolous lawsuits, either, but COME ON!
You mean you guys wouldn’t think that was the nastiest thing ever? I can’t even look at a pic of one. I‘m sure I’ll be having nightmares tonight. Yuck!!!
barber2
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 9:56pm$100,000 ? Oh – puleeze. I do think the flight attendants handled this improperly and insensitively but I am also tired of all of the frivolous law suits . The air line needed to settle this and get an Orkan Man employed. The lawyers who make a good living with these cases: John Edwards… Gloria Allred..Johnnie Cochran… cockroaches…whatever….
Report Post »demint.disciple
Posted on November 14, 2011 at 7:06amBird of a feather…
Report Post »GumRock
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 9:51pmRacist !
Report Post »barber2
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 10:10pmYes, sir ! These little cockroaches must be escapees from an Occupy Camp- In. They just got the evacuation notice….Thought the flight was on its way to Hawaii….
Report Post »Findalis
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 9:50pmThere are FAA regulations that maintain that no insects are to be aboard an airplane. I guess this airline doesn’t obey the FAA rules. Cockroaches eat the insulation on wiring, this can cause a fire or worse on an aircraft. The whole fleet should be grounded and checked for damage.
Report Post »c0mm0nsense
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 10:27pmWow! We have someone who knows his stuff here on the Blaze.
Report Post »ZeeWulf
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 11:16pmThere are regs about insects on planes, and airlines have programs in place to control the problem. Unfortunately they still get on sometimes …and the most the flight crew can do with it is write up a logpage. Then we call the pest control guy to take care of them. As for this newly-minted lawyer, he’s just looking for a lawsuit. The funny thing is…if he doesn’t like AirTrans service then he should fly someone else.
Report Post »1casawizard
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 11:17pmWhat if someone brought insects on board and dispersed them and then claiming lawsuit that they could be endangered?
Report Post »LimaBean
Posted on November 14, 2011 at 8:28amfirst off, ew bugs. gross.
Report Post »Anyone suffering from allergies (cockroaches, their feces I believe, is a cause of allergic reaction) this could be a concern. For those bugs you see, there are many more you don’t. If the plane has an infestation, the bugs are living on the plane depositing poop. Poop dries (one place would be the air vents) into small particles, becomes airborne and circulates through out plane and inhaled. Kinda like pollen from trees (which my whole family is allergic to). My daughter is so sensitive to tree pollen that it brings on an asthma attack (she’s in immunotherapy now to become, hopefully, less sensitive). For the majority of passengers, no big deal. For some, this is a health concern (which can be avoided by not flying than airline).
BOMUSTGO
Posted on November 14, 2011 at 12:36pmI flew on a C-141 cargo plane from Louisiana to Germany and then Saudi Arabia for Desert Shield and Desert Storm. While we were waiting to be deployed, some of our AGE (Areospace ground equipment) was waiting for a few days on the loading area for our deployment to the desert. Crickets and grasshoppers got inside the AGE equipment and as we were climbing to altitude, all these insects started coming out in droves.I stepped on a few as they came near while sitting in a jump seat.Finally we landed in Saudi Arabia and as we were getting off the back of the plane, I noticed a grasshopper jumping off the plane and into the desert.
Report Post »ColoradoMaverick
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 9:46pmGive me a break! Did the cockroaches hurt them? Yes, they are gross. So what.
Report Post »sawbuck
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 10:09pmThey can be carrying diseases.
Report Post »What other bugs are joining the mile high club..Bed Bugs..?
RightThinking1
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 10:32pmI find cockroachs as repugnant as anyone, but I have to ask…, does anyone have any first-hand knowledge of ANYONE ever actually contracting anything from one? In my down-and-out youth, I and others living in sordid apartments were constantly at war with the little buggers, but I never have heard of any verifiable case of roach-borne disease afflicting anyone.
Report Post »Cesium
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 10:47pmso.. they can get into the electronics and short them out. Always a good time for a 30,000 foot electronic device.
Report Post »demint.disciple
Posted on November 14, 2011 at 7:07am@sawbuck <<< fitting name , is that how much YOU would sue for ?
Report Post »Sharlene
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 9:42pmI would be screaming my head off. I cannot stand things they fly and creepy crawlers.
Yuk
Report Post »Common.Cents
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 9:41pmHere’s a novel idea. Smash them your freaking selves!
Report Post »KickinBack
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 10:08pmKind of tough. Roaches are fast little buggers.
Report Post »barber2
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 10:16pmLefties: On. The government needs to establish a new Roach Czar ! …..
Report Post »oriondma05
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 9:39pmWhy does everyone feel they have the right to sue everyone else? Just don’t fly on the stinking airline next time.
Report Post »Walkabout
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 10:09pmIf cockroaches cause them so much trauma, than flying itself can;t be much good on their nerves.
In fact life is pretty traumatic for them period. They need a safe padded room, where nurses can bring them their anti anxiety meds daily.
Report Post »Zoe
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 9:38pmThey got past the TSA?
Report Post »Therightsofbilly
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 10:48pmThey might BE the TSA.
Tiny insect resembling, robotic camera carrying devices spying on suspect passengers.
It’s a joke JZS.
Report Post »randy
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 9:37pm$100,000.00 lawsuit? Must be Obama Voters!
Report Post »kristinp
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 9:51pmLol! Great observation!
Report Post »SpankDaMonkey
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 9:34pm.
Report Post »If a roach fell out of an air vent on my wife in mid flight, we’d all die…………
imsteph
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 9:34pmEeeewwwwww!!!!
Report Post »whatthecrazy
Posted on November 13, 2011 at 10:38pmExacty what i was thinking……lol
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