This happened with Top Gear star James May a couple of months ago.
It will happen very often - it's only the famous faces that the media are interested in. It's how 99% of airlines in this world work (that have premium classes anyway). You have a passenger who has travelled with BA for a significant number of years, will no doubt have a BA Gold card (he may have even held the 'non-existent' Black card while in office - he is BA high priority. Just like any other businessman/woman who uses BA dozens of times a year, certainly in a premium capacity.
Had it been the CEO of a major MNC which no one would have recognised then the problem wouldn't have even made the reporters desk. Somewhere in the world this will happen dozens of times a day...
The pregnant woman was backed up in the row by the doctor, who was returning to the UK after working for the Red Cross in Oman.
That's the major point in this story!