Cancer patient 'kicked off British Airways flight after taking a seat in first class to stretch his legs because he was in pain'

The man kicked off a British Airways flight on a remote Portuguese air base for “demanding an upgrade” is a 65-year-old cancer sufferer who moved seats because he was in pain, according to the woman who helped him.

Londoner Kwame Bantu was ejected from the plane after it touched down at an air force base on the island of Terceira alongside businesswoman Joy Stoney, who had stepped in to defend him.

Ms Stoney, 40, said she was furious at the airline for stranding them on the island in the Atlantic Ocean "with no plan" on Thursday following the “humiliating, inhumane” ordeal the day before.

Mr Bantu, who has prostate cancer, is believed to have walked into the first class cabin to stretch his legs and inquired about moving to a seat there to be more comfortable.

However, six members of staff reportedly grabbed him after a dispute, dragged him back to his seat in economy and tied him down.

Ms Stoney, a businesswoman from Yorkshire, told the Standard: “He went to the wrong cabin and then they tried to remove him by force. There were six of them on top of one man trying to restrain him.

“They restrained him by tying his hands, his shoulders and his ankles and then on top of all that they handcuffed him.”

Ms Stoney, who did not know the man before the incident, stepped in after noticing he clearly needed to go to the toilet but couldn’t because of the restraints.

She said: “I asked to speak to the management and they brought the pilot down, but then I saw the man holding his crotch. They refused to let him go to the toilet. That is inhumane.

“I said I would walk with him to the toilet but they still refused and said he should ‘defecate in the chair’.

“It was humiliating, I’m traumatised,” she added.

Following the incident, the plane made an unscheduled stop just after 3pm at an air base on the Portuguese island of Terceira in the Atlantic Ocean.

The pair were removed and taken for questioning by police, while the plane turned around and headed back to Gatwick at 7.15pm. They were not given their luggage.

Military officials from Lajes air base confirmed that the pair were being questioned by police.

A spokesman said: “The pilot decided to land in Lajes in the island of Terceira because of a dispute between cabin crew and a couple who wanted to be transferred from economy class to first class.”

Speaking from the island, which is in the Azores, Ms Stoney said they were desperately trying to work out how to get from “no mans land” back to London.

“We have been left in a country in the middle of the ocean surrounded by water,” she said.

"We don't have our luggage and we can't spend our money here. The only people who are being kind and helping are the Portuguese police and locals."

A British Airways spokesman stated that the man had been removed for repeatedly abusing crew members and disturbing passengers.

The spokesman said: “Caring for our customers is our highest priority and we continue to investigate all the circumstances surrounding this incident.

“We take great care to handle these difficult situations as sensitively as possible. Our cabin crew and one of our pilots repeatedly asked a customer to return to his booked seat in economy after he sat in our business class cabin without permission.

“He repeatedly refused, verbally abused crew members and disturbed other customers.

“As a last resort, our cabin crew felt they had no option but to restrain the customer in the interests of the safety of everyone on board and helped him walk back to his original seat.”