A chaplain from Chicago's Northwestern University claims she faced anti-Muslim discrimination aboard a United Airlines flight on Friday, while en route from Chicago to Washington, D.C.
Tahera Ahmad said a United flight attendant refused to give her an unopened can of Diet Coke because she said it could be used "as a weapon." When she said she was being discriminated against, another passenger on the plane hurled angry, anti-Muslim comments at her, according to Ahmad.
Others have called for a boycott of United after Ahmad's Facebook post (see below) recounting her experience went viral.
By Saturday afternoon, the post had been shared thousands of times. After the flight attendant brought Ahmad a can of opened Diet Coke, she said she asked for an unopened one instead for hygiene purposes.
"[The flight attendant] responded, 'Well I'm sorry, I just can't give you an unopened can, so no diet coke for you.' She then brought the man sitting next to me a can of UNOPENED beer. So I asked her again why she refused to give me an UNOPENED can of diet coke. She said, 'We are unauthorized to give unopened cans to people because they may use it as a WEAPON on the plane,'" Ahmad wrote.
(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));I am sitting on a United airlines flight in the air 30,000ft above and I am in tears of humiliation from discrimination....Posted by Tahera Ahmad on Friday, May 29, 2015
Ahmad is an associate chaplain at Northwestern University, and was traveling to Washington to participate in a peace conference. She was honored at the White House in 2013 for her work as a leading Muslim female in the United States.
According to Ahmad, the flight attendant later apologized and acknowledged that the male passenger's comments were unacceptable. The pilot of the aircraft also personally escorted her to file a complaint with United.
@united as of now, United has not officially reached out to me @omarsuleiman504 @ImamSuhaibWebb @hsmoghul pic.twitter.com/LmbEg8T3C7— Tahera Ahmad (@TaheraHAhmad) May 30, 2015
Ahmad's supporters vowed to boycott the airline until the issue was properly addressed by United. They rallied on social media under the hashtag #UnitedForTahera.
@united Very upsetting news... My entire family and I will be boycotting #UnitedAirlines from now on. #unitedfortahera— Cynthia Thompson (@ladyrose1300) May 30, 2015
#unitedfortahera I'm so upset at United but so hopeful at the response for accountability from everyone!— Itedal shalabi (@Itedalshalabi1) May 30, 2015
@united your loyal customers don't enjoy discrimination #unitedfortahera— Omar Tawakol (@otawakol) May 30, 2015
United issued a statement about the alleged incident on Saturday, saying the company planned to investigate.
"We are reaching out directly to Ms. Ahmad to get a better understanding of what occurred during the flight. We are also discussing the matter that Ms. Ahmad describes with Shuttle America, our regional partner that operated the flight," the airline said.
However, Ahmad said via Twitter on Saturday that the airline has yet to reach out to her.
@united as of now, United has not officially reached out to me @omarsuleiman504 @ImamSuhaibWebb @hsmoghul pic.twitter.com/LmbEg8T3C7— Tahera Ahmad (@TaheraHAhmad) May 30, 2015