Viral allegations of discrimination on a United Airlines flight last week have led the company to take action against the accused flight attendant.
The airline company on Wednesday released a statement saying that after an investigation, the employee of Shuttle America – a company United uses to feed their services – will no longer be allowed to work on its flights.
Over the weekend, Northwestern chaplain Tahera Ahmad’s allegations of Islamaphobia at 30,000 feet led to threats of a boycott against United Airlines.
United had released a statement the day after the incident that, Ahmad said, reduced her allegations to being just about a “misunderstanding over a diet soda”, which caused more uproar.
Ahmad told the Guardian she found the company’s earlier characterizations to be trivializing and said she wished it had acknowledged the alleged discrimination explicitly. “[This is] not about me or a soda can, it’s about systemic injustice,” she said.
“United does not tolerate behavior that is discriminatory – or that appears to be discriminatory – against our customers or employees,” United’s second statement says.
Shuttle America, owned by Republic Airways Holding, confirmed to the Guardian the flight attendant had been pulled from future United Express flying and would be retrained.
The airline states that all employees undergo annual and recurrent customer services training – including cultural awareness lessons – and it will “continue to work with all of [its] partners to deliver service that reflects United’s commitment to cultural awareness”.
