United Airlines denies a chaplain an unopened pop as it could be used as a weapon

A Muslim chaplain complained how she was subjected to discrimination after an United Airline attendant refused to serve her an unopened can of cola, as it could be used as a weapon.

Tahera Ahmad, 31, a university chaplain in Chicago, was on a United Airlines flight when she asked for an unopened can of Diet Coke 'for hygiene reasons'.

Ms. Ahmad posted her experience on her Facebook account garnering mass support, with many declaring to boycott the services of the said airline.

Thousands voiced their fury in social media at the treatment of Ms. Ahmad.

CNN reported that Ms. Ahmad was traveling Friday from Chicago to Washington for a conference promoting dialogue between Israeli and Palestinian youths. She was wearing a hijab.

For hygienic reasons, she asked for an unopened can of Diet Coke, she said. The flight attendant told her that she could not give her one but handed an unopened can of beer to a man seated nearby. "When I questioned the flight attendant", Ms. Ahmad recalled, the flight attendant told her they cannot give unopened cans to passengers because they may use it as weapon on the plane.

United spokesman Charles Hobart in an official statement said that a flight attendant had tried several times to accommodate Ahmad's beverage request but that there was a "misunderstanding."

However, Hobart did not elaborate on the so-called misunderstanding.  The spokesman further added that the company spoke to the chaplain Saturday afternoon to "get a better understanding" of what happened and to apologize for "for not delivering the service our customers expect when traveling with us."

On Facebook, Ahmad wrote that she was "truly disappointed" with the airline's response, which she said "disregarded and trivialized" the discrimination she experienced.

"I have not received a written sincere apology for the pain and hurt I experienced as a result of the discrimination and hateful words towards me," she wrote, adding "It is not about a can of soda."

Ahmad wrote that she had been served unopened beverages on previous United flights and that she did not want the flight attendant fired.

The university chaplain in her FB post explained that she simply did not expect the United management to dismiss the unjustifiable and unfortunate rude behavior, discrimination and hateful words but rather acknowledge their accountability and role in the painful experience.

After her initial post, people took to social media in support of Ahmad, using the hashtag #unitedfortahera. Some pledged to boycott the airline.

As of Sunday afternoon, the hashtag has been used to more than twenty thousand times. 

A prominent Muslim American imam, Suhaib Webb in his tweet called on all the followers to protest and let the United Airlines know that they are disgusted at the bigotry.