Man who can’t work cell phone sues Continental Airlines

Saquib Fatah of Houston, Texas, is suing Continental Airlines because he can’t work his cell phone. Confused? I’ll break it down:

1. Fatah gets on airplane in London with his new cell phone.
2. Captain makes the usual “turn off all electronic devices” announcement and the plane begins to taxi.
3. “BEEP BEEP BEEP!” from Fatah’s phone.
4. A stewardess asks Fatah to “kill the phone.” He appears to do so. Taxiing continues …
5. “BEEP BEEP BEEP!”
6. Everything goes to Hell.

After the phone went off the second time, Fatah states in his lawsuit that “the Continental Airlines stewardess used degrading and insulting language, and then offloaded him and his luggage, and handed him over to the British police.”

Fatah was reportedly held in jail for a couple of hours, then sent along his not-so-merry way. A week later, Fatah arrived at the airport to try to go home to Houston again, but Continental turned him away at the check-in, saying he was “undesirable.” Ouch. Fatah bought a ticket on British Airways, flew home, and called his lawyer Ali Ahmed.

Ahmed has yet to serve the lawsuit, but if he’s already talking to the press about it, chances are he has every intention of doing so.

[via Houston Press Blogs]