Airport security search woman's Afro

An airline passenger was left in tears after security officers insisted on checking her Afro-style hair in case she was concealing explosives.

Hairdresser Isis Brantley was stopped at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia.

She had passed a scanning device but as she travelled down an escalator, she claims she heard someone yell: 'Hey you, hey you, ma'am, stop. Stop - the lady with the hair, you'.

Two TSA agents told her she could not go any further until they checked her hair for explosives. Reluctantly she allowed them to do it and the TSA staff patted her hair down right there instead of asking to return to a private area for screening.

‘And so she started patting my hair, and I was in tears at that point,’ Miss Brantley told NBC News. ‘And she was digging in my scalp. I was outraged. I was humiliated. I was confused.’

The TSA said: ‘Our screening procedures are designed to ensure the security of the travelling public. Additional screening may be required for clothing, headwear or hair where prohibited items could be hidden.

‘This passenger left the checkpoint prior to the completion of the screening process.'

The security authority added: 'She was offered, but refused, private screening'.