Delta Issues “H8GAYS” Boarding Pass

Here’s one for the “Oops” files: Delta is making apologies today after accidentally printing and issuing a boarding pass that read “H8GAYS.” The incident left the young man who received the slip feeling more than a little icky. Gay Star News reports:

Jeff White, a student, purchased a flight from Florida to New York, via Atlanta, with Delta Air Lines earlier this month. When he discovered the offensive confirmation code after checking in, he was left ‘extremely uncomfortable.’

‘At first I didn’t think I read it right,’ White 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 has apologized for the error, explaining that its codes are computer-generated and completely random. ‘We will make every effort to ensure that a similar combination does not occur in the future,” says Delta spokesman Russell Cason.

But White makes a good point in the Washington Post article when he expresses concern that that code combo could make it through the system. ‘I’m sure they removed many four-letter words that would be seen as offensive,” he says. “I’m surprised that ‘gays’ and ‘H8’ weren’t blocked as well.”

Read more about the story here.