(CNN) — Stress around putting on facial area masks led to a passenger’s elimination from an American Airways flight Wednesday as airlines implement stricter security steps.

Passenger Brandon Straka was asked to get off a flight from New York to Dallas just after he refused to wear a confront covering as needed by American Airlines plan, the airline verified in a statement.

This is the very first recognised incident of this variety due to the fact the airlines announced options to far more strictly implement mask putting on.

American Airlines confirmed the incident aboard Flight 1263 from New York’s LaGuardia to Dallas/Fort Value, expressing that Straka declined to dress in a facial area covering.

“Soon after he refused to comply with the guidance offered by the flight crew, our crew members requested him to deplane. He deplaned and the flight departed the gate 4 minutes late at 12:34 p.m. ET,” the airline mentioned in a assertion.

Straka was rebooked on a later flight right after he agreed to comply with enterprise insurance policies, the airline stated, and American is reaching out to him for much more information and facts on the incident. Straka stated he wore a mask the organization offered but took it off the moment he was on board the airplane and no one particular complained.

Straka told CNN in a cellphone interview that the flight was shut to departing when “1 of the flight attendants arrived to me very aggressively and said, ‘Sir, you want to be putting on your mask.’ And I claimed, ‘Well, I don’t have 1.'”

Straka is a conservative character who has appeared on Fox News. He describes himself on his site as a previous liberal who encourages persons to go away the Democratic Party.

When requested about masks, Straka reported he is anti-mask for himself, but he sees it as a personalized determination. Together with T-shirts and other goods, Straka sells masks on his web-site.

The flight attendant reported he desired to don a mask to be on the flight, Straka said, and indicated that it was a law.

“I was just irritated by the reality that there was not even a dialogue. I stated to her, ‘That’s truly not a regulation.'”

When asked by CNN no matter if he has a clinical situation, Straka declined to comment but explained, “I uncover it challenging and prohibitive to don a mask, certainly.”

He explained that he has in no way before had a problem with not donning a mask on flights.

“I fly in some cases two or a few moments a week, and even in the course of shutdown I was flying a minimal of when every single two months. I am fairly applied to traveling and this has practically under no circumstances been an difficulty. Not 1 single time, even with this airline,” Straka stated.

Though US aviation officials have not mandated encounter coverings for air travelers, the head of the Federal Aviation Administration mentioned in congressional testimony Wednesday that travellers are anticipated to don masks when directed by flight attendants.

FAA Administrator Steve Dickson mentioned in his testimony that air vacationers really should don experience coverings “for their have safety and the protection of people all around them. Face coverings are especially significant in scenarios exactly where social distancing is not possible.”

CNN’s Pete Muntean and Gregory Wallace contributed to this report.