RNA - Tahera Ahmad, who works at Northwestern University as director of interfaith engagement, spoke last night of the ‘disgusting behaviour’ of the airplane staff.
She was on a flight last night and asked for an unopened can of Diet Coke, which the attendant refused to give her due to the airline’s apparent policy.
Ahmad then noticed the same attendant giving an unopened can of beer to someone else, and confronted her.
According to Ahmad, the attendant said: ‘We are unauthorised to give unopened cans to people because they may use it as a weapon on the plane.’
She then allegedly gave the Muslim woman a can of Diet Coke, which she immediately opened so Ahmad didn’t ‘use it as a weapon’.
Shocked, Ahmad turned to her fellow passengers to ask if they had witnessed the ‘discriminatory and disgusting’ incident.
One of them told told her ‘you Muslim, you need to shut the f**k up’, as he also believed that she could use the can as a weapon.
Ahmad then burst into tears, explaining that she’d been expecting people to defend her, but no-one had stepped up during the Islamophobic attack.
She posted about her ordeal on Facebook, and her post soon went viral.
A hashtag supporting her soon started on Twitter, with people saying that they will boycott United Airlines until it apologises.
I will not be flying #UnitedAirlines ever again until they learn how to not discriminate. #unitedfortahera
— ariba (@beebee313) May 30, 2015Very disappointed to hear about @united Airlines Islamophobic behavior. I'll think twice before using your airline. #unitedfortahera
— Ayfa A. (@Ayfapieper) May 30, 2015No #UnitedAirlines for me!!!! No discrimination!! #unitedfortahera
— jahmyllah hodges (@jahmyllah1979) May 30, 2015Definitely won't be flying United on my looming trip to the States. #unitedfortahera
— Scarlett Hawkins (@Scarlett_Hawk) May 30, 2015