Two airline passengers who locked a stranger’s crying grandchild in a plane restroom have caused outrage in China and sparked a heated online debate on how to handle upset children in public spaces.
The incident went viral this week after one of the two women involved posted a video on Chinese social media, which showed them inside a locked lavatory with the wailing girl, who appeared to be about a year old.
A video of the incident, which occurred on an Aug. 24 Juneyao Airlines flight to Shanghai, recently went viral on Chinese social media,
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 incident took place August 24 aboard a Juneyao Airlines flight from the southwestern city of Guiyang to Shanghai.
The toddler was flying with her grandparents and cried non-stop during the nearly three-hour flight, the airline said in a statement Monday.
The two passengers took the child to the restroom to “educate her” with her grandmother’s consent, the statement added.
