A TOP Brit barrister and his family were kicked off a flight by armed cops after he allegedly argued with cabin crew because they refused to let his kid’s nanny join them in business class.
Charles Banner, QC, 41, was escorted off the British Airways plane with his wife, who is also a barrister, his two children aged one and four and their child minder.
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They were heading from Heathrow to Turin last Thursday for a skiing holiday – but when they got to the boarding gate Charles was told that the family’s nanny would be sitting in economy.
He had paid for business class tickets for the two-hour flight, but she had been downgraded because the flight had been oversold, according to MailOnline.
Once on the plane, a heated argument with cabin crew ensued – and the pilot turned the plane around and refused to take off until Charles and his family were removed.
Charles insists he did the right thing by “challenging the cabin crew” as his wife had needed to get work done during the flight – so needed the nanny to watch the kids.
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He told the publication: “If BA had told me that the nanny could not sit with us in business then we would not have travelled and could have got a later flight. But they only told us that when we got to the boarding gate.
“I behaved perfectly but I was challenging the cabin crew because it was the right thing to do. The pettiness and vindictiveness of the staff caused this. I was being very polite about the whole thing.”
Charles says the incident was “a very upsetting event” and was “appalled” by the way they were treated.
The barrister claims that there was a free business class seat close to them – but cabin crew said the nanny would not be allowed to move from economy class.
He said: “We kept asking for an explanation and the cabin crew kept telling us again and again in response that we would be compensated, repeatedly gaslighting us by ignoring our request for an explanation as to why the spare seat could not be used.”
He then told the plane’s staff that he had made an official complaint about their conduct.
He said: “Rather than apologise, the cabin crew then asked the pilot not to fly either the two kids aged 4 and 1, their mother, the nanny or myself, which was a gross over-reaction to our understandable upset at how we had been treated – most likely to provide the cabin crew with cover against the complaint that I indicated I had made about their behaviour.”
The QC says that he was forced to book into a hotel that night – and went to Gatwick airport the next morning for new flights to Turin with Easy Jet.
He claims the incident cost him nearly £4,000 – and is now demanding compensation, and an apology from BA.
Charles said: “BA have given me vouchers as compensation, but I don’t want those, I want a cash refund. There were a lot of knock-on costs for me as a result of this incident.”
He insists that being escorted by armed cops was simply standard protocol and did not indicate that he had committed any crime.
He explained: “In accordance with standard protocol in a situation where passengers leave a plane and return landside, the police escorted our family back through immigration.”
A spokesman for BA said: “We do not tolerate disruptive behaviour and the safety of our customers and crew is our top priority.”
