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Flight Attendant Who Refused Muslim Chaplain Unopened Can Will No Longer Serve United Customers

(CBS) -- "A good start" is how a Chicago Islamic group describes United Airlines' latest response to an incident on board a flight last Friday.

United says it will continue its cultural sensitivity training and it says the flight attendant involved in the incident with Northwestern University Associate Chaplain Tahera Ahmad will no longer serve United customers.

The incident was on Shuttle America, one of United's partners.

Ahmad, who wears a hijab, says she asked a flight attendant for an unopened can of a soft drink and was denied and told she might use it as a weapon.

"Upon hearing this, I was utterly shocked, and said, 'How dare you say I could use it as a weapon,' Ahmad said. "I asked the passengers sitting around me if they had witnessed what she had just said to me, and a man sitting across the aisle said, 'You Moslem, shut the F up.'"

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Ahmad says she does not want the flight attendant to lose her job.

"She's another American. She made a very bad mistake," says Ahmad.

"I really want her to understand what happened and grow from this experience," she says.

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