Two Muslim American women were ordered off an American Airlines plane in Miami this week after a flight attendant said that overhearing them talking with other passengers about the lack of food and water on the flight made him uncomfortable, one of the women said.

Niala Khalil, a Voice of America journalist, said on her Facebook page Wednesday that she and her traveling companion were met on the ramp at Miami International Airport by armed air marshals and Miami-Dade police officers.

But an American Airlines spokeswoman said that the two were removed for “noncompliance” and disputed some of the details of Ms. Khalil’s account. She also denied that religion factored into the airline’s decision.

Ms. Khalil said that the episode took place on Aug. 2 when she and her friend, a federal government worker she did not identify, boarded Flight 2239 to Washington. The flight was delayed by crew changes, a maintenance issue and bad weather, she wrote.