Couple sues airline over cockroaches on flight

Charlotte - A North Carolina couple has filed a lawsuit against Air Tran Airways after a flight they say they boarded at Charlotte Douglas International Airport became infested with cockroaches causing them great distress.

Attorney Harry Marsh and his fiancé Kaitlin Rush claim the cockroaches were crawling out of air vents and overhead storage bins during the September flight from Charlotte to Houston. They "allege negligence and recklessness, intentional infliction of emotional distress, nuisance, fraud, false imprisonment and unfair and deceptive trade practices, reports WCNC. Marsh and Rush claim in their lawsuit that shortly after takeoff the airplane turned into a "flying roach machine." The couple pointed out the cockroaches to flight attendants who failed to address the problem to their satisfaction. The couple snapped numerous photographs of the insects that are included with their pending lawsuit. Marsh said, "when he brought it to a flight attendant’s attention, the flight attendant put her finger to her mouth. Marsh said his interpretation was the flight attendant implying to be quiet." The lawsuit alleges that complaints by other passengers were ignored by Air Tran flight attendants, who failed to believe that a problem existed. Marsh said their response caused even greater distress to passengers aboard the flight. Marsh and Rush claim they were sickened and nauseous by the roaches and were forced to discard some of the items in their baggage, "out of concern cockroaches got on their clothes." The Charlotte couple is suing for $100,000 plus the price paid for their initial flight. Air Tran has denied some of the allegation when contacted by WCNC. The airlines said, "the cleanliness of their equipment is very important and their planes are regularly and professionally treated for bugs."