A trending video of the former Big Brother Naija (BBN) housemate Erica Nlewedim on Instagram showed her using explicit statements of one of the staff of Nigerian ground handling firms whom she wrongly accused of downgrading her from a business class cabin to an economy seat on a British Airways flight having fully paid for the said premium seat.

A check-in staff does not have the authority to either upgrade or downgrade any Passenger without the instruction of the airline. It is quite unfortunate that this event happened but it is not uncommon during Peak seasons where numerous agents book for seats thereby causing a case of overbooking.
During Peak periods, the airline system would take precedence of Passengers with added advantages like frequent flier premium passes over others during check-in and would definitely stall the check-in process of others once the capacity of the aircraft has been exhausted. Also, some Passengers take advantage of the early check-in facility by checking in 48 hours before departure.
As regrettable as this incident is, Erica should have contacted her ticketing agent to find out what the problem was. There are numerous ways to solve this issue which include flight change, or even Airline change and she would have definitely been compensated for the inconveniences.

A ground handling staff represents the airline at the counter taking care of the check-in and Boarding process but does not have the authority to downgrade any Passenger.

The video showed the check-in staff trying to pacify Erica to call her agent and to explain the options that were available to salvage the situation but she would have none of it.

It is worthy of note that events like these are not uncommon during Peak periods and as inconvenient as they are, there are solutions. Passengers should have been informed beforehand of any case of overbookings so as to avoid embarrassing situations like these.