We’ve all had to share a plane with a screaming infant or a cranky toddler at one point or another, but for many people online, an incident shown in a recent viral video took the cake.
The video, posted to Reddit’s Public Freakout subReddit, showed the moment on a recent flight in which a small child was seen jumping up and down on a tray table.
According to the original poster on Reddit, the flight in question was eight hours in length, and many have speculated the child was American, though where she and her family hail from wasn’t known.
The Redditor described the incident as “letting children run wild during an 8 hour flight,” which is about as nightmarish a description of air travel as you can get.
Plane etiquette has become a hot button topic in recent years, particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic has coincided with an explosion of belligerent passengers in sometimes violent interactions with airline and airport staff.
This incident didn’t appear to go that far, but many people on the internet were left perplexed by the lack of action in the video by any of the child’s fellow passengers—including the man being disturbed by the child’s jumping.
Others called out the child’s parents for not controlling their child, especially on such a lengthy flight.
On Twitter, the child’s behavior definitely caught lots of people’s attention, and there was no shortage of anger towards her seemingly blasé parents.
And, as you might expect, the child’s defenders caused plenty of angry backlash too.
Jumping on a table tray isn’t “regular toddler stuff,” though. If I was the guy in front of the kid, the parent and I would have words. I’m not saying the kid should sit in silence, but your kid using my seat back as a trampoline? Nah.
— Elton Johnny Dangerously (@DesertPlains496)November 25, 2022
Best of luck to all of you flying over the holidays. If this video is any indication, you’re going to need it!