A family was escorted off a flight by police after complaining about a downgrade from business class to economy.
Brazilian businessman Ivan Lopes, his wife, and his daughters Bruna Lopes, 26, and another daughter, 11, were booted from a January 14 Air France flight from Paris to Salvador after a fight over attempts to shunt Bruna back to premium economy.
Bruna had been due to sit in seat 7L but boarded to find someone else was already there.
Staff told her that another business class passenger's seat was broken and could not be converted to a bed, Aeroin reported.
That passenger had paid full price while booking, while the Lopes's had spent $1,900 upgrading their seats on the day of departure.
There were no other free business class seats in the 28-person business class section, meaning the full price passenger got priority over Bruna's last-minute upgrade.
The other three members of her family were told they could sit in business but tensions flared over Bruna's downgrade, with some of the drama caught on camera.
A crew member could be seen telling the family: 'This is the last call for you.'
'If I tell you one more (time) I'll call the police.'
The family could be heard saying they just wanted to get back to Brazil as the man who threatened them walked off.
Bahian businessman Ivan Lopes, his wife, and his daughters Bruna Lopes, 26, and another daughter, 11, were kicked off an Air France flight on January 14
The family claimed the airline told them their daughters upgraded business-class seat was broken but found another passenger sitting in the seat inoperable seat. The airline told Aeroin that the seat went unused
The Lopes family were given a choice to either all sit in premium economy or sit separate from one another. The airline claims they accepted to sit separately but began acting erratic to staff
Another crew member asked for their boarding passes as a family member recorded.
She asked if she could film the boarding passes, to which the flight attendants sternly told her: 'You film nothing.'
'You don't film,' she added. 'You're not allowed to film,' as she appeared to walk off the plane with their boarding passes.
Ivan explained his perspective to BNews: 'The captain came in shouting, in an extremely rude manner, saying there was no way around it and that my daughter would have to sit wherever they told her to.'
'I asked him to lower his voice and respect my daughter and my wife. He came toward me, touched me, and said I had to stay quiet or leave the plane. He said it was the last chance and that there was no turning back. I replied, ‘Alright, then call the police and remove me."'
Air France told Aeroin that the incident began at the boarding gate and informed the family that they would not be able to give Bruna her business-class seat.
Should airlines be held accountable when seat downgrades split up families and cause distress?
Comment now
The downgraded seats did not convert to a bed like feature where the seat can lay nearly flat and would give each passenger 23 inches less legroom (Stock Image of Air France business class)
The airline claimed it tried to accommodate the family's request to sit together by offering premium economy seats, which they denied.
The airline told the outlet that the family chose to keep their original seats and be split, but then began behaving erratically and inappropriately toward the flight staff while on the plane.
The captain decided that the four passengers needed to be removed, prompting police to escort them off the flight.
Ivan told BNews that when he got off the plane, the airline offered him a different flight, but, at his lawyer's advice, he and his family flew with another airline and arrived in Salvador the next day.
He plans to sue Air France for emotional distress and the estimated financial loss from the incident of about 100,000 Brazilian reais, which is approximately $20,000.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Air France for comment.
