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Man says beard, ‘Arabic’ look got him kicked off Alaska Airlines flight

Posted at 11:15 AM, Jun 18, 2016
and last updated 2016-06-18 11:16:02-04

DALLAS — An Alaska Airlines customer says his facial hair got him kicked off a flight after other passengers complained.

Mark French said he tried to board his flight at DFW Airport on Wednesday night, according to KDAF, but was kicked off after a passenger complained he looked "Arabic and scary." French's sister explained what happened in a Facebook post:

French said he was on a business call in the waiting area when a woman told him to put his phone away.

Before he knew it, he claims, he was approached by security guards who told him he couldn't board the plane until he was clean shaven.

Here's a pic of the stubble that got him banned:

Courtesy: Mark French

Courtesy: Mark French

Alaska Airlines sent NewsFix a statement saying:

“We want to assure you that ethnicity did not play a part in this situation. The passenger was deemed unfit to fly at that time but was rebooked for a flight today to his destination. There is more to the story, but per our company policy we do not share details about our passengers.”

French says he did get a call from the airlines' customer support with an offer to let him re-book his return flight at the same price. But French feels that doesn't make up for the humiliation of being targeted because he didn't shave.