31-year-old Tahera Ahmad was on an internal US flight when she was refused an unopened can of soda. The flight attendant believed she would use it as a weapon.
Ahmad, a Muslim chaplain from Northwestern University, was traveling from Chicago to Washington, DC, for a conference aimed at promoting dialogue between Israeli and Palestinian youth.
Ahmed alleged the discrimination on her Facebook page: “I am sitting on a United airlines flight in the air 30,000ft above and I am in tears of humiliation from discrimination. The flight attendant asked me what I would like to drink and I requested a can of diet coke. She brought me a can that was open so I requested an unopened can due to hygienic reasons. She said no one has consumed from the drink, but I requested an unopened can. She 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.” So I told her that she was clearly discriminating against me because she gave the man next to me an unopened can of beer. She looked at his can, quickly grabbed it and opened it and said, “it’s so you don’t use it as a weapon.” Apphauled at her behavior I asked people around me if they witnessed this discriminatory and disgusting behavior and the man sitting in an aisle across from me yelled out to me, “you Moslem, you need to shut the F** up.” I said, “what?!” He then leaned over from his seat, looked me straight in the eyes and said, “yes you know you would use it as a WEAPON so shut the f**k up.” I felt the hate in his voice and his raging eyes. I can’t help but cry on this plane because I thought people would defend me and say something. Some people just shook their heads in dismay. #IslamophobiaISREAL“
From CNN: ” United spokesman Charles Hobart said that a flight attendant had tried several times to accommodates Ahmad’s beverage request but that there was a “misunderstanding.” He did not elaborate on the details of that alleged confusion, but said that on Saturday afternoon United officials spoke to the chaplain to “get a better understanding” of what happened and to apologize for “for not delivering the service our customers expect when traveling with us.” “
