An Inclusive Litany

7/26/02

While in an airplane with her husband waiting to take off from Dallas in February, 36-year-old Renee Koutsouradis was paged over a loudspeaker and asked to accompany a Delta security official, who said something suspicious was vibrating in one of her bags. She told him what she thought it was, but nevertheless the agent took her to the bag on the tarmac and asked her to remove and hold up the item for inspection: a battery-operated sex toy that she and her husband had just bought on a trip to Las Vegas.

According to her subsequent lawsuit against the airline, some passengers on the plane saw everything, and three male Delta employees "began laughing hysterically" and made "obnoxious and sexually harassing comments." The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages, accusing Delta of negligence, gender discrimination, and intentional infliction of public humiliation.