Airline sorry for 'H8GAYS' boarding pass code

An airline has been forced to apologise after a passenger received a code number on his boarding pass that read ‘H8GAYS’.

Jeff White purchased a flight from Florida to New York, via Atlanta, with Delta Air Lines earlier this month, and discovered the offensive confirmation code after checking in.

‘At first I didn’t think I read it right,’ Mr White, a student at the University of West Florida, told the Washington Post.

‘I was worried that another customer might think I somehow picked that code. If I were a gay male, I might have thought that a Delta worker purposely gave me that code and that would have made me extremely uncomfortable.’

Delta Air Lines has apologised for any ‘conce or misunderstanding’ but insisted that the codes are ‘computer-generated and are completely random’.

Russell Cason, Delta Air Line spokesman, said: ‘We will make every effort to ensure that a similar combination does not occur in the future.’

Mr White said that he was surprised the offensive code combination was not blocked.

‘I’m sure they removed many four-letter words that would be seen as offensive. I’m surprised that “gays” and “H8″ weren’t blocked as well,’ he added.

This is not the first time an airline has come under fire for anti-gay messages.

In October, budget Australian airline Jetstar had to apologise after a passenger found the message ‘I am gay’ plastered all over his luggage.