Photo: Northwestern University McSA
The last time Tahera Ahmad made international headlines, it was when the prominent Muslim scholar became the first woman to recite the Quran at the Islamic Society of North America convention. Now, the Northwestern University Chaplain is back in the news, this time because of a can of soda. Ahmad said that during a recent United Airlines partner flight from Chicago to Washington, D.C., she asked for an unopened can of Diet Coke “for hygienic reasons” but a flight attendant told her that wouldn’t be possible, because she could theoretically use that can as a weapon.
Ahmad wrote of her experience in a now-deleted Facebook post (as of this morning, she appears to have deleted her entire Facebook account) and said that she felt discriminated against because the man beside her was given an unopened can of beer. Ahmad wrote:
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.”
Ahmad said that, after the exchange with the flight attendant, she asked the passengers seated near her whether they had heard their exchange. Instead of support, she said that another passenger yelled at her “with hate in his voice,” and told her to “shut the f— up.”
In an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, Ahmad said that when the plane landed at Reagan National, the flight attendant apologized for the situation and for the unidentified passenger’s behavior. The pilot also apologized and personally walked her to United’s customer service desk so that she could file an official complaint. Ahmad – who has Premier status on the airline – told the paper that she found the entire situation to be especially demeaning because “she was publicly targeted as a threat to people.”
In a statement posted to its website, United wrote:
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 inflight crew met with Ms. Ahmad after the flight arrived in Washington to provide assistance and further discuss the matter. Additionally, we spoke with Ms. Ahmad this afternoon to get a better understanding of what occurred and to apologize for not delivering the service our customers expect when traveling with us. We look forward to having the opportunity to welcome Ms. Ahmad back.
On Sunday morning, Ahmad wrote that she was “truly disappointed” in United’s statement. She said
United has dismissed my entire narrative and trivialized it as a can of soda […] It is truly disheartening when the discrimination of Americans as myself who are working hard every day to promote dialogue and understanding is disregarded and trivialized.
Ahmad says that all she wants from United is a written apology and for the airline to establish some “corrective measures” to prevent anyone else from experiencing a situation like hers.