A man was criticised by plane passengers after asking two screaming children to “stop kicking the seat” during an economy flight.
In a viral video circulating on social media, the American man is sitting in the middle seat in the row in front of the children.
The youngsters, who appear to be aged under three, can be heard screaming while rolling around in their seats and kicking the chairs in front.
The woman seated next to them, who is thought to be their mother, appeared flustered but did not tell the boys off for being disruptive.
“Hey, stop kicking the seat,” the man turned around and fumed.
“You’re telling him to be quiet?” the stressed-out mum hit back, to which the man replied: “Yes!”
Another plane passenger who was sitting near the mum also got involved, declaring: “You’re on a public flight, bro. Just relax.”
The situation then escalated as the American man began making loud wailing noises, seemingly in an attempt to prove a point.
“Are you for real?” the dumbfounded plane passenger asked, while the children looked confused and appeared to kick the seat again.
“Oh, come on, man! Stop kicking it and quiet down,” the man yelled before continuing to scream.
“Grow up, man,” the other passenger said.
People in the comments were critical of the mother, saying she should have taken “control” of her children’s behaviour and the man had every right to complain.
“The mother should have told her child to stop, and if she can’t control her child, then yes I agree with the man,” one person said.
“I’m with the man. He paid good money for a comfortable flight and the mother should have controlled the child’s unruly behaviour,” echoed another.
Others were more sympathetic with the parent, but said that she should have stepped in when the children started kicking.
“Infant crying: understandable. Kid kicking a seat: absolutely not okay,” one Instagram user said.
A fourth person even suggested families should be seated in a separate section of the plane to avoid confrontations such as this.
“They should have separate flights for families or separate rows or sections. It is that simple. Like smokers and non-smokers,” they wrote.
Another person attempted to defend the mum, saying that those who want a quieter flight should pay extra to sit in first class.
“It’s called first class. If you can’t afford to ride in the front, then you get to deal with the back,” they commented.
One more person quipped that “even first class is not safe from ill-behaved kids”.
“I had toys thrown at us in first class and the parents just sat there and did nothing,” they added.
It is unclear which airline the incident occurred on or how the issue was resolved.