It started with a Facebook post, led to a trending hashtag on Twitter and then made international headlines.
The fracas over the way a flight attendant insulted Northwestern University chaplain Tahera Ahmad because she was wearing a traditional Muslim headscarf culminated Wednesday with an apology from United Airlines and the company’s promise that the attendant for Shuttle America will not work on United express flights until she has undergone more training.
“While United did not operate the flight, Ms. Ahmad was our customer and we apologize to her for what occurred,” United spokesman Charles Hobart said in a statement. “United does not tolerate behavior that is discriminatory — or that appears to be discriminatory — against our customers or employees.”
Hobart said employees for the airline would continue to receive annual cultural awareness training and that the airline is reaching out to its express partners, including Shuttle America, SkyWest, Trans States and ExpressJet airlines, to make sure their staff also receives regular sensitivity training.
Whether that’s enough to coax back customers angry at the Chicago-based airline remains unclear. Adopting the hashtag #UnitedforTahera, thousands tweeted messages of support and calls for a boycott after Ahmad turned to Facebook last Friday night to detail her confrontation with the flight attendant and another passenger.
“It’s indicative of something much deeper happening in our country right now,” Ahmad, 31, said in an interview. “Minority groups are saying they’re in a lot of pain. If you fail to recognize the bigotry, prejudice and stereotypes that create a culture, that continues to promote cyclical injustice. We can’t continue to do that. All this pain and all this hurt, it’s just not OK.”
Ahmad said the response points to a systemic injustice. While the details of her encounter might differ, the experience of discrimination is the same, she said.
Ahmad was flying from Chicago to Washington, D.C., on a delayed United flight operated by Shuttle America when she said a flight attendant brought her an opened can of Diet Coke covered with a clear plastic cup.
When Ahmad requested an unopened can for sanitary reasons, the flight attendant declined, saying the airline didn’t serve unopened beverages, according to Ahmad. When Ahmad pointed out another passenger’s unopened beer, the flight attendant abruptly popped the beer’s top. She then looked at Ahmad and said it was so she would not use the beer as a weapon, Ahmad said. Ahmad accused the crew member of discriminating against her because she was wearing a hijab, a traditional Muslim headscarf.
Ahmad said another passenger leaned across the aisle and used profanity in repeating the insult, saying she, as a Muslim, would use the can as a weapon and that she should be quiet. After the flight attendant threatened to have her removed from the flight, Ahmad said she stayed silent, believing she didn’t have a choice. The flight attendant also requested her boarding pass and took down her name, she said
“I did not want to look like the radical Muslim on the plane,” she said. “I’m stuck in this situation 30,000 feet above the ground where I’ve already been told I’m a threat to everyone else. If I say anything now, the risk is to me. I’m basically stuck in a space where I can’t say anything.”
Facebook became her high altitude outlet.
“I put up a post that clearly resonated with thousands of people around the world,” Ahmad said in the interview.
Ahmad was heading to Washington to deliver a keynote address at a conference hosted by Kids4Peace, a nonprofit that seeks to bring together Israeli and Palestinian youths.
“I was sharing my own story of what it means to be a person who has dedicated her life to dialogue, the challenges of that, the successes of that and ways to move forward,” she said.
Ahmad said she confronted the flight attendant after the plane landed and tearfully tried to explain why she felt threatened. The flight attendant eventually apologized for being rude, she said. When the pilot came out of the cockpit and learned what had happened, he escorted Ahmad to the United customer service desk inside the Washington airport to file a formal complaint.
Ahmad said she never wanted the flight attendant to lose her job.
“She made a very bad mistake, an unacceptable mistake,” Ahmad said during a press conference held by the Chicago chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations. “If she can learn from the experience and become a better flight attendant, that’s awesome.”