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Crying Child Reportedly Locked in Airplane Bathroom by 2 Fellow Passengers
The incident, shared in a viral video, drew criticism online and the airline has since issued an apology
Two strangers reportedly kept a baby in an airplane bathroom after the child wouldn’t stop crying during a three-hour flight.
A video of the incident, which occurred on an Aug. 24 Juneyao Airlines flight to Shanghai, recently went viral on Chinese social media, according to CNN.
In the clip, which has since been deleted from China’s version of TikTok, one of the adults, who was a stranger to the child, reportedly told the little girl, “We won’t let you out unless you stop crying,” When the girl finally calmed down, the woman says, “If you make any noise again, we’ll come back (to the bathroom).”
The baby was reportedly traveling with her grandmother, who consented to the two strangers taking her to the bathroom and stood outside the lavatory door.
While how to handle an upset or unruly child on a plane has long been a source of debate, the video quickly drew criticism online and the airline issued an apology, which was shared on Weibo, China’s equivalent to X (formerly Twitter).
The statement acknowledged the incident, saying Juneyao had “launched an internal investigation” and contacted the child’s parents to “inquire about the situation and verify the facts in order to restore the truth of the matter.”
According to the airline, the girl’s mother told them she learned of the incident from the grandmother and “expressed her understanding of the two passengers’ assistance on board.”
PEOPLE was unable to reach Juneyao Airlines directly for comment.
Commenters on Weibo were seemingly less forgiving, reportedly calling the strangers’ actions “cold-blooded” and “inappropriate,” according to CNN.
Coping with a crying baby on a flight has led to a variety of passenger incidents in the U.S. recently.
In April 2023, a man on a Southwest flight went viral for having a meltdown about a noisy child.
In the clip shared to TikTok, the man — whose identity is unknown — vocally expressed his frustrations with employees mid-flight after he claimed the baby had been crying on the trip for 40 minutes straight.
“We are in a f—ing tin can with a baby in a goddamn echo chamber and you want to talk to me about being f—ing OK,” the man asks in the video before a flight attendant reminds him he’s “yelling.”
“So is the baby,” he replied. “Did that motherf—er pay extra to yell?”
At the other end of the spectrum, a flight attendant went viral for going above and beyond to soothe a crying baby.
A mother flying Southwest in July 2023 shared on TikTok that during her baby’s first plane ride, a flight attendant walked him up and down the aisle and rubbed his back to stop him from crying.
“To the flight attendant who gave my screaming baby a plane tour, thank you 🙏🏻,” the mom wrote. “Southwest, she deserves a raise.”
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