Hudson Valley Couple Suing Virgin Atlantic For $400K Over Lost Luggage

KATONAH, NY — A Katonah couple is suing Virgin Atlantic Airways for $402,674.57 for lost luggage during their recent trip to Israel.

The complaint was filed on July 11 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

“Despite numerous international reports of massive luggage handling delays and disruptions all across Europe in the weeks leading up to June 19, 2022,” the complaint states, "Virgin Atlantic (a) failed to timely notify Plaintiffs about those delays and disruptions and the attendant possibility, if not likelihood, that Plaintiffs' luggage would not arrive with them at their final destination, (b) failed to take reasonably available measures to ensure that Plaintiffs' luggage would be given the priority treatment they purchased with their business class tickets, (c) lied about all passenger luggage being on board when their plane left Heathrow for Israel, and (d) failed to provide any ground support at Ben Gurion Airport in Israel ("Ben Gurion"), Plaintiffs' final destination."

The plaintiffs, Michael and Rebecca Gordon, are accusing Virgin of violating the Montreal Convention, which provides that carriers are liable for damages caused by delay in the carriage by air of passengers, luggage or cargo.

Michael Gordon, a lawyer, filed the complaint himself through his GordonLaw LLP law firm.

According to the lawsuit, the Gordons planned a three-week trip to Israel, combining their early 34th wedding anniversary vacation at a resort, meetings, exercise, education and Sabbath observations. Around March 6, 2022, they used their American Express card to pay $8773.66 for two round-trip business class airline tickets for travel on June 19, 2022 from New York to Tel Aviv, via London's Heathrow Airport.

After arriving at JFK at 5:11 a.m. on June 19, they checked in three bags filled with all of their clothes, toiletries and other essentials. After clearing security and while waiting for their flight in the Virgin Airlines business class lounge, Michael Gordon received an email notification from Virgin about luggage system failures at Heathrow and the possibility that their luggage would not be loaded on their next flight. The email also recommended placing essential items (medication, toiletries and basic clothing) in hand luggage and traveling with just hand luggage, if possible. The Gordons say that they received no notifications, advisories or warnings from Virgin regarding luggage problems before this email and that they were unaware of the ongoing baggage chaos in Europe.

After arriving at Heathrow, they discovered that their flight to Ben Gurion Airport was delayed. According to the complaint, Virgin did not offer an explanation for the delay, but when the Gordons were boarding the plane, they heard the captain announce that the delay was due to baggage loading issues and being understaffed. The captain also reportedly said that the plane would not depart until all bags were loaded and when the flight was over 75 minutes late, the captain announced that all baggage had finally been loaded.

However, when the Gordons went to the baggage carousel at Ben Gurion Airport on June 20, 2022 to retrieve their luggage, they observed that while other customers on the flight, including economy class customers, were able to pick up their bags, they could not find their own.

According to the court filing, they arrived “with only the clothes on their backs, some books and other miscellaneous carry-on items, and no idea when they would be reunited with their luggage.”

"As all the luggage was bar-coded and traceable, Virgin Atlantic knew or should have known that Plaintiffs' luggage was not on board when the plane left Heathrow," the lawsuit contends. "Therefore, either the Virgin Atlantic captain deliberately lied to the passengers to keep them in the dark about the unloaded luggage, or someone on the Virgin Atlantic ground crew lied to the captain. Either way, Virgin Atlantic lied and proceeded to depart Heathrow without Plaintiffs' luggage."

The Gordons filled out a "Property Irregularity Form," included their itinerary details and then began their journey to the Beresheet resort for their anniversary. On the way to the resort, they stopped at a Beersheva shopping mall to buy $2,674.57 worth of clothing, toiletries and other essentials. The complaint notes that the amount may seem excessive but the items were necessary as they had packed "beautiful and costly, Sabbath-appropriate clothing" for events they planned to attend. The plaintiffs said that instead of touring and sightseeing in the biblical city of Beersheva as they had originally planned, they had to waste time shopping in a mall there.

Despite several attempts to remind Virgin that they would be leaving the resort on June 23 for the next part of their trip in Jerusalem, their luggage was still delivered to the resort after they had already left. On June 26, a resort employee drove 130 miles to Jerusalem to reunite the bags with their owners.

The complaint also specifically mentions a Virgin Atlantic representative named Darren, who on June 21 "angrily and rudely threatened to hang up on Mr. Gordon if Mr. Gordon continued to ask questions about Plaintiffs' missing luggage" and also "deliberately gave Plaintiffs misinformation about the status of their luggage, no doubt to amuse himself at Plaintiffs' expense and avoid having to provide helpful information."

In fact, the lawsuit cites the insolence of the airline employees as part of the reason for seeking six-figure damages over the lost bags.

"Evidently, Virgin Atlantic cares so little for its passengers, even its loyalty customers, that they allow their representatives to feel comfortable abusing those customers."

"Virgin Atlantic's reckless, if not willful, misconduct (a) caused Plaintiffs to be deprived the benefit of the business class tickets they purchased, as Virgin Atlantic did not provide Plaintiffs with priority luggage treatment, (b) left Plaintiffs with no choice but to waste precious vacation time and a substantial amount of money buying replacement clothes, including modest and appropriate Sabbath wear for Ms. Gordon, toiletries, everyday wear, and fitness gear, and (c) marred Plaintiff's trip to Israel."

"Put simply, Virgin Atlantic's blatant disregard of plainly visible warning signs and failure to take the most basic steps to prevent and mitigate passenger disruption caused Plaintiffs to suffer substantial damage that could have been avoided."

The Gordons are demanding a minimum of $402,674.57, which includes the $2,674.57 paid for replacement items and $50,000 a day for "abusive conduct."