Viral In The Sky: Man Forces Southwest Airlines Flight To Deplane After Meltdown Over Crying Baby

It may be time to update the airplane etiquette manuals, especially on Southwest Airlines.

In a now-viral video, originally posted to TikTok, a passenger became incensed over a crying baby, leading to a Southwest Airlines flight being forced to deplane, according to TMZ. The man, who a fellow passenger recorded, could be heard screaming, “That child has been crying for 40 minutes.” The flight crew and other passengers could be heard asking him to calm down. He responded, “Calm the child down, please. I had headphones on; I was sleeping.”

There have been discussions around child-free flights for customers who feel that the presence of babies and toddlers takes away from the serenity of flying; however, a reaction of this kind is rare.

Two flight attendants were sent over to deal with the man and to convince him to lower his voice—the enraged passenger refused to comply. “Want me to scream? I’ll f*cking scream,” he responded. “Please stop the baby. Please. … We are in a f*cking tin can with a baby in a goddamn echo chamber and you wanna talk to me about being f*cking OK?” When others suggested that he should conduct himself differently as an adult in comparison to the actions of a child, the passenger seemed to become more irate. “Did that motherf*cker pay extra to yell? F*ck you, and shut up.” He was then asked to lower his volume, to which he replied, “Can you lower that voice? … F*ck, lower that baby’s voice. I’m triggered; f*ck that baby.”

The man was asked to leave the plane but refused, causing the entire flight to deplane and for him to be escorted off by authorities. “I got rights,” he said. “If I hadn’t have said anything, we would be sitting on this motherf*cking flight with a kid crying for 45 minutes. Bullsh*t.”

Officials for Southwest Airlines said, “We do not have details on this flight to share but commend our flight crew for their professionalism and offer our apologies to the other customers onboard,” in a statement shared on The Today Show.