United Airlines apologized to Tahera Ahmad, the Muslim woman who said she was the victim of discrimination on board a flight in which an attendant refused to serve her an unopened beverage and a passenger directed bigoted, profane slurs at her.

“While United did not operate the flight, Ms. Ahmad was our customer and we apologize to her for what occurred on the flight,” United said in a statement on Wednesday, five days after the incident.

The flight in which the alleged discrimination took place was operated by Shuttle America, even though the airplane itself carried the United logo. 

United said after investigating the matter, the flight attendant, who is a Shuttle America employee, was barred from serving United Airline customers.

“United does not tolerate behavior that is discriminatory– or that appears to be discriminatory— against our customers or employees,” the statement read. “All of United’s customer-facing employees undergo annual and recurrent customer service training, which includes lessons in cultural awareness.”

Ahmad, who is a religious scholar at Northwestern University, said after asking the flight attendant for an unopened can of Diet Coke, the woman denied Ahmad’s request but served a passenger sitting next to her an unopened can of beer.

Ahmad related the story in mid-air on Facebook. 

“We are unauthorized to give unopened cans to people because they can be used as weapons on the plane,” Ahmad said the attendant told her. 

Ahmad said she replied by telling the attendant that her behavior is discriminatory because she gave a different passenger an unopened beverage in a can.

Ahmad, who is the director of Interfaith Engagement at Northwestern University in Chicago, was then told by a fellow passenger, “You Muslims need to shut the f*** up,” according to her account. 

After she questioned what the passenger yelled, she said he leaned over and reiterated: “yes, you know you would use it as a weapon, so shut the f*** up.”

Ahmad said she did not receive support from other people on the plane, who simply shook their heads in dismay.

She said the incident left her in tears.

#UnitedForTahera, a hashtag to show solidarity with Ahmad, was created on social media after hundreds of people across the country shared her post about the incident.

“Disgusted by the way @TaheraHAhmad was treated on a @united flight. This is not okay. #unitedfortahera,” said one Twitter user.

Other tweets urged United to apologize to Ahmad.

“Flying while Muslim: how @united treated my friend and colleague @TaheraHAhmad. So much for the friendly skies,” tweeted columnist Haroon Moghul.