Irresponsible or necessary? Viral video of passengers locking up crying toddler in airplane toilet sparks debate in China

It’s the eternal dilemma of every traveller: What do you do when there’s a crying baby on your flight? 

For two female passengers onboard a domestic flight in China, the situation became personal. 

In a now-deleted video which has sparked anger and intense debate on Chinese social media, the women were seen carrying a wailing toddler into the aeroplane bathroom and scolding the distressed child.

In the one-minute video, seen by CNA, the duo, dressed in black, were overheard sternly telling the child to stop crying. “Shut your mouth! Don’t cry. We’ll let you out when you stop crying,” one of the women said, while the other continued filming. 

The incident was confirmed by Juneyao Airlines on their official Weibo page, and had taken place on board a morning domestic flight on Aug 24 from China’s southwestern city of Guiyang to Shanghai. 

According to the airline’s statement, the young child had been throwing a tantrum, prompting the two female passengers to take matters into their own hands. They carried her away from her grandmother and brought her into the toilet, the airline said. 

The women had consent from the girl’s grandmother, the airline said. “Her grandmother had been waiting outside the toilet” the entire time, it added.

The original video, which has since been deleted from Douyin, Tiktok’s sister app, was first uploaded by one of the women who shared their version of the controversial incident. 

The little girl was “spoiled by her grandmother” and had been “crying very loudly and disturbing other passengers,” the woman wrote. “So (we) took her from her grandmother and brought her into the toilet,” she said. “We didn’t allow her grandmother to follow, but I recorded the whole thing while the aunty and I and disciplined her.” 

The child’s mother has also broken her silence and said that she knew about the incident. In the statement released by Juneyao Airlines, the woman, who was not named, said she had been aware of the incident and expressed her “understanding” towards the women for their “assistance and actions” during the flight.