Man oh man.

Some days you just couldn’t do a better job of making up a blockbuster story if, well, you made it up.

Today is definitely one of those days.

According to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Kate Hanni — the woman who has been at the forefront of the move to get a passengers’ bill of rights passed on Capitol Hill, claims that Delta Air Lines hacked her email accounts, in addition to personal files on her computer.

What the hell you say? I know. When I read the headlines I was skeptical too. But that was before I read the formal complaint filed by Hanni’s attorneys and the accompanying exhibits.

You too can do the same. You can access the complaint here, and the exhibits document here.

Here’s the Cliff Notes version.

Hanni, who is the executive director of the Coalition for an Airline Passengers’ Bill of Rights had her AOL email account hacked into. In addition, the attack was apparently done using some type of malicious little code that also copied files from her personal computer. According to Hanni’s complaint, “Specifically, private e-mails and sensitive files were obtained by Delta Air Lines, Inc. (“Delta”) and subsequently used to sabotage Flyersrights’ efforts to pass the “Airline Passenger’s Bill of Rights of 2009” through Congress.”

Here is the meaty stuff from the complaint:

“11. Beginning in February 2009, Hanni exchanged information with Frederick J. Foreman, PhD (“Foreman”), an MIT graduate working for Metron Aviation, Inc. (“Metron”). Foreman was hired by the FAA to analyze airline surface delays. During their correspondence, Foreman, with explicit permission from Metron, updated Hanni with public information and statistics from his research and analysis. Hanni, in return, provided Foreman with data and information she acquired about surface delays. In his final report, Foreman pinpoints Delta as an airline experiencing excessive surface delays.

12. During the time Hanni was sharing information with Foreman, Hanni’s personal computer files and Flyersrights e-mail accounts were hacked. America Online (“AOL”), Hanni’s e-mail service provider, confirmed the e-mail accounts were hacked. As a result of the hacking, spreadsheets, lists of donors, e-mails, Department of Transportation statistics and Hanni’s personal files were redirected to an unknown location. Additionally, all of the information on Hanni’s personal laptop was corrupted and rendered useless.

13. On September 25, 2009, Metron executives confronted Foreman with the stolen e- mails and claimed Delta, a client of Metron, was angry about Hanni getting information that would help pass the Airline Passenger Bill of Rights.3 Metron had the stolen e-mails and files from AOL and Hanni’s personal computer in its possession.

14. When Foreman asked Metron how Metron obtained the information, Metron claimed that Delta had provided them with the stolen e-mails.4 Confirming Metron’s claims, the screenshots of the stolen e-mails presented to Foreman were from Delta. Foreman was fired by Metron the same day.”   

Holy crap.

All I can say is read the exhibits, particularly the statement from Mr. Foreman. Pretty damning stuff if you ask me.  

Can’t wait for this one to unfold.

Hanni is asking for $1 million in actual damages and $10 million in punitive damages. More importantly, she wants to know how her personal files and emails were obtained by the Delta Air Lines and Metron.

I want to know too.