Pregnant woman told to give up seat so Gordon McBroon can fly Club Class

A heavily pregnant woman was left furious after she was told to give up her British Airways seat so former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown could fly Club Class. Brown sparked a dispute on the flight from Abu Dhabi to London after he was blamed for an attempt to downgrade the seven months pregnant woman and a Red Cross doctor into more cramped seats. The extraordinary scenes unfolded when the passengers lost their seats before the Brown's six-strong entourage got on board. It prompted an angry war of words with an 'aggressive' Brown aide, and led to a formal complaint to BA and an offer of compensation described as 'derisory' by those involved.

The dispute flared when passengers were told they would have to move to a lower class of seats because of a sudden 'overbooking' problem. When they checked in at Oman, where the flight originated, some of those in business class were told they would have to switch to premium economy, some in premium economy moved to regular economy - and an unlucky few in economy were kicked off the plane altogether. The seven-months-pregnant woman, who had bought a £700 premium ticket to secure extra legroom, refused to budge, but her husband was persuaded to shift to economy. The doctor reluctantly agreed to be moved from business.



During the first, hour-long leg from Oman to Abu Dhabi, the displaced passengers stared resentfully at the six empty seats in business class, known as Club World by BA. At Abu Dhabi they were livid to see Brown board the plane with his team and take up the £3,000-a-head places. The passengers immediately concluded that they had been 'bumped' to make way for Brown, a suggestion the airline strongly denies. Infuriated, the pregnant woman approached Brown and his aide, Kirsty McNeill, and took a picture of the pair on her mobile, prompting a furious response.

The pregnant woman said: "Ms McNeill was seriously aggressive. She came over and said, "Why are you taking a photo of Gordon?" "I said, "I have no interest in Gordon but I have a problem with BA as I suspect we have all been downgraded and messed around because of his and your arrival on this plane. She said, "You wouldn't like it if someone took a photo of you while you were asleep. I responded that if I were the ex-Prime Minister I would be used to people taking my picture and no, I wouldn't be bothered if someone took my photo while I was asleep."