While women and children were offered the opportunity to return home during late August, the remaining detainees were dispersed to various sites in Iraq and Kuwait and were used by the Iraqis as human shields to deter offensive operations by opposing Coalition forces during the Gulf War.

[5] BA 149 continues to be the subject of controversy and debate over whether the situation could have been averted, as well as accusations and conspiracy theories that the flight was used as a Trojan horse to transport undercover British military and intelligence personnel into Kuwait.

[6] Several investigations have since been conducted into the incident, leading to official denials from Margaret Thatcher, Britain's Prime Minister at the time, of any government efforts to influence British Airways' actions in regard to Flight 149.

On 23 November 2021, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss confirmed that the government of that time had misled British Airways and the public about a prior warning that was not passed on to the airline.

[9] At 19:05 BST (18:05 GMT) on 1 August 1990,[10] British Airways Flight 149 (BA 149) departed from London Heathrow Airport with 367 passengers on board, its final destination was Kuala Lumpur with scheduled layovers in Kuwait City and Madras.

Kuwait's larger neighbour, Iraq, had issued demands for territory to be surrendered to its control and had been staging a military buildup on the border between the two nations for weeks.

During the delay at Heathrow, the flight crew requested up-to-date reports on the situation in Kuwait and were told nothing untoward was happening despite news of growing tension.

[10] Captain Brunyate later testified that he elected to resume the stopover in Kuwait after again talking to Kuwaiti ATC during the final approach and being told that it was fine to land at the airport.

[11][2] Thirty passengers were booked on the flight to finish their journey in Kuwait and disembarked the plane with the inbound crew who proceeded to set off for their hotel.

[10] Between 04:45 and 05:05 local time, the crew for the onward flight and remaining passengers boarded the Boeing 747 in anticipation of the next leg to Madras which was to be captained by Peter Clark.

[10][12] At 07:30 AST (04:30 GMT), both the crew and passengers who had been on board Flight 149 were escorted from the terminal by the Iraqi army and transported by bus to the airport's onsite hotel.

[11] BA's chairman, Lord King, publicly blamed the Foreign Office and the British security services for their failure to promptly designate Kuwait as a war zone, which would have caused the flight to be diverted.

[15] Very quickly, there was considerable public controversy over whether the British government would have been able to intervene to avoid Flight 149's detention, as well as when had it become aware of the invasion of Kuwait.

Brunyate later explained that his father, who had worked in Iraq, had personally run afoul of Saddam Hussein and he feared reprisals if his surname was recognised by the Iraqi authorities.

The soldier was reportedly executed near the hostages after cabin services director Clive Earthy complained about the incident to the lead officer of the Iraqi troops detaining them.

[17] Different groups of detainees were released at various stages, often dependent upon their nationality, but also including criteria such as ill health and the body of one individual who had died during captivity.

[2] Former British prime minister Edward Heath travelled in person to Baghdad for direct talks with Iraq's President Saddam Hussein, and is credited with leading negotiations to successfully release the hostages taken.

[4] Several court actions were raised by passengers against British Airways in respect of Flight 149, often accusing the airline of negligence by continuing to land in Kuwait hours after the invasion, as well as for loss of property.

[10] On 23 November 2021, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss confirmed that the government of that time had misled British Airways and the public about a prior warning that was not passed on to the airline.