Top lawyer kicked off a flight when cabin crew refused to let his children’s nanny join him in business class, and he became ‘disruptive,’ report says

• A lawyer and his family were kicked off a British Airways flight from London to Turin, per MailOnline.
• The family’s nanny had been booked in business class but the flight was oversold.

A top British lawyer was ordered off a British Airways flight last week after an argument with the cabin crew about their nanny’s seating arrangement became heated, according to MailOnline.

Charles Banner, 41, and his family, including two children, aged one and four, were escorted off the flight from London Heathrow to Turin, Italy, by armed police last Thursday, MailOnline reported.

The flight was grounded for 90 minutes because of the argument between Banner and the cabin crew about his children’s nanny not being able to join them in business class, MailOnline said.

Banner said that he had booked the nanny onto business class so that he and his wife could work while she looked after their children, per MailOnline. Banner is a member of the Queen’s Counsel — a legal advocate appointed by The Queen.

But British Airways downgraded their nanny because the flight had been oversold, the airline said.

Banner claims that British Airways staff were “rude” to him when he asked the cabin crew if the nanny could sit in a spare business-class seat, he told MailOnline. The airline insisted there was no extra seat in the cabin.

The disagreement reportedly became heated, and, per MailOnline, the pilot insisted they were removed from the flight. Police were called, and the family was escorted off the plane, British Airways said.

“If BA had told me that the nanny could not sit with us in business, then we would not have traveled and could have got a later flight. But they only told us that when we got to the boarding gate,” Banner told MailOnline.

“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,” he continued.

Banner and his family had to book a hotel near the airport and traveled from London Gatwick Airport the next day with EasyJet, MailOnline reported.

The barrister did not respond to Insider’s request for comment.

In a statement sent to Insider about the incident, a spokesperson for British Airways said: “We do not tolerate disruptive behavior and the safety of our customers and crew is our top priority.”