A Muslim female passenger has claimed she was discriminated against on Friday when she was refused an unopened can of diet coke on a United Airlines flight because the flight attendant thought she might use it as a weapon.
31-year old Tahera Ahmad, director of interfaith engagement at Northwestern University, was flying from Chicago to Washington D.C. Friday night when her request for an unopened can of diet coke was denied, according to The Chicago Sun-Times.
"I am sitting on a United airlines flight in the air 30,000ft above and I am in tears of humiliation from discrimination," Ahmad wrote in a Facebook post on Saturday. She said the flight attendant gave her a can that was open, so she asked for an unopened can due to "hygienic reasons." However, the flight attendant refused to give her an unopened can after giving the man sitting next to Ahmad an unopened can of beer.
"Well I'm sorry I just can't give you an unopened can so no diet coke for you," the flight attendant told her. When asked why she refused to give Ahmad an unopened can of diet coke, the flight attendant said, "We are unauthorized to give unopened cans to people because they may use it as a weapon on the plane."
Ahmad further said her co-passengers were of no help. A male co-passenger told her "you Moslem, you need to shut the F** up."
"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,'" she wrote. "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 head in dismay. #IslamophobiaISREAL."
Thousands of people have shared Ahmad's experience on social media, as her Facebook post went viral. They have accused the airline of Islamophobia and racism at 30,000 feet and threatened to boycott United Airlines until it issued a formal apology. A #unitedfortahera hashtag immediately began trending worldwide, The Mirror reported.
Meanwhile, United Airlines dismissed Tahera's allegations. "The flight attendant onboard Shuttle America flight 3504 attempted several times to accommodate Ms. Ahmad's beverage request after a misunderstanding regarding a can of diet soda," the airline said in a statement.
