United Airlines has come under fire after a Muslim passenger was allegedly refused an unopened can of soda because she might "use it as a weapon."
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Ahmad wrote in a Facebook post that she asked for an unopened can of Diet Coke during beverage service on her flight. When she was brought an open can, she requested a new beverage for sanitary reasons but was told, "I'm sorry I just can't give you an unopened can so no diet coke for you."
A man sitting near her was later brought an unopened beer, and Ahmad, who wears a hijab in her Facebook profile photo, asked the flight attendant again why she wasn't able to have a similar can.
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Ahmed also wrote that after the encounter, she asked her fellow passengers if the experience was discriminatory, but no one responded aside from one man who said, "You Moslem, you need to shut the f** up ... yes you know you would use it as a WEAPON so shut the ###### up."
Weird that they gave the other guy an unopened can of beer. I thought airline policy was to not give out unopened cans on a plane. I never heard the weapon reasoning before, but I have seen people denied it before.
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Weird that they gave the other guy an unopened can of beer. I thought airline policy was to not give out unopened cans on a plane. I never heard the weapon reasoning before, but I have seen people denied it before.
Weird that they gave the other guy an unopened can of beer. I thought airline policy was to not give out unopened cans on a plane. I never heard the weapon reasoning before, but I have seen people denied it before.
I can't recall a flight attendant ever opening my beer/Coke for me.
Weird that they gave the other guy an unopened can of beer. I thought airline policy was to not give out unopened cans on a plane. I never heard the weapon reasoning before, but I have seen people denied it before.
United Airlines has no policy againt unopened cans. Other news sources have also cited that the "weapon" reason was the flight attended made up.
When a Muslim woman was denied an unopened can of soda on a United Airlines flight, she was allegedly told it was against policy — but the company that was operating that flight said Monday that they don't have rules on whether drinks are served opened or not.
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"There is no policy difference in serving alcoholic or non-alcoholic canned beverages to passengers. There is no differentiation between opened and unopened beverages, and there is no policy suggesting what may or may not be done with a container," the Republic Airways statement read.
The statement, like one from United Airlines released Sunday, called the incident a "misunderstanding" and said the crew apologized to Ahmad after the flight "for not delivering the service our customers expect."
Last edited by combustiblefuel; 06-02-2015 at 12:54 PM.
Location: A simple man leading a complicated life....
Exp:
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United issued a statement about the incident Saturday evening, calling it a “misunderstanding.” The airline said it spoke to Ahmad and apologized “for not delivering the service our customers expect when traveling with us.” The statement did not elaborate on the airline’s policy on unopened soda cans or contest Ahmad’s narrative of events.
Nor did it satisfy Ahmad. “Disappointed at dismissal,” she tweeted Sunday.
Though she was frustrated with United’s response, Ahmad said that the flight attendant in question was apologetic.
“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 never should have said anything,” Ahmad told the Chicago Sun-Times. After the flight, the pilot apologized and walked her to the service desk at Reagan National Airport so she could file a complaint.
I'm getting a strong "that never happened" vibe from this story.
As far as I can tell Miss Ahmad is about as upstanding of a citizen as you can get.
Of note, is that she was the first woman allowed to recite the Quran at the Islamic Society of North America conference in 2013. She is director of interfaith engagement at Northwestern University as well as being a muslim chaplain on campus.
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I can't recall a flight attendant ever opening my beer/Coke for me.
That's weird. Every time I have been on a plane, they never give me a full can and always insist on pouring it into a little cup. They won't even give up the opened can unless I ask for it. I always just figured they were being cheap and wanted to use the rest of the contents for the next person though. It never occurred to me that someone could use it as a weapon. That would take some pretty awesome ninja skills I think.
On the topic of bringing weapons onto planes though, I was on an Air Ontario flight back in 2001 just before they became "Jazz" and they had a customer appreciation thing where they gave out letter openers on the plane with "Air Ontario" engraved on them. The guy in front of me even joked with the flight attendant asking her if he should hijack the plane with it.
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Last edited by FlamesAddiction; 06-02-2015 at 01:39 PM.
Muslim woman denied a can of coke because she could use it as a weapon.
