(Newswire.net — June 2, 2015) — United Airlines finds itself in a world of PR trouble after Muslim passenger Tahera Ahmad posted on her Facebook page that she was denied a can of Coke mid-flight, because the staff feared she might use it as a weapon, CNN reported.
Tahera Ahmad was on domestic US flight from Chicago to Washington when she was refused an unopened can of soda. The 31-year-old Muslim chaplain from Northwestern University was traveling for a conference promoting dialogue between Israeli and Palestinian youth.
According to her Facebook post, Ahmad asked the flight attendant if she could have a can of diet coke. However, the flight attendant refused to serve her.
“Well I’m sorry I just can’t give you an unopened can, so no diet coke for you,” the flight attendant told Ahmed.
At first, Ahmed thought that it was against the United Airlines regulations to serve passengers unopened cans. However, moments later, the passenger sitting next to her was given an unopened can of beer.
When Ahmad asked the flight attendant why she refused to give her an unopened can of diet coke, the stewardess replied she is not authorized to give unopened cans because they could be used as a weapon and endanger the airplane’s passengers.
Shocked, Ahmad allegedly asked the fellow passengers to support her only to receive more insults. According to Ahmad’s post, a man sitting in the opposite aisle shouted at her “You Muslim! You need to shut the F*** up.”
Ahmad left in the shock just replied “What?!”
The man apparently leaned over, looked her in the eye and said: “Yes, you know you would use it as a weapon, so shut the f*** up.”
According to Ahmad, not one of the passengers defended her which brought her nearly to tears. She was barely able to keep from bursting into tears and making a scene. However, when she landed she told her Facebook friends what had happened and many shared her post. The power of the social media kicked in and United Airlines soon faced backlash from aggravated people across the US. Some of them said they returned their UE flight tickets and booked with other airlines.
“Skipping my @united flight tomorrow and purchasing a new flight from @Delta right now. Inexcusable. #unitedfortahera,” one passenger posted on his Twitter account.
Finally, the scandal reached the media. Ahmad told the Chicago Sun that this is not the first time she was a victim of Islamophobia. “That is a very horrible feeling,” said Ahmad, who later added that the flight attendant in question did apologize to her. After landing the plane, a pilot also apologized to her and personally took her to the service desk so she could file a complaint.
“The flight attendant also acknowledged that the man who yelled at me was wrong for doing so and apologized that her behavior led to that. She acknowledged it was unethical, and said he should never have said anything,” she said.