A Chinese mother has sparked public outrage after allowing her rowdy son to bother other passengers and delay a flight by an hour by storming into the first class cabin.
According to the paper, the incident occurred on August 15 on a domestic flight about to depart from Chongqing in southwestern China.
The boy, whose age was not disclosed, cried and complained to his mother that his economy class seat was too narrow, then stood in the aisle.
The mother ignored flight attendants' requests for her son to return to his seat and allowed him into the first class cabin.
“There is an empty seat. Can I sit here?” the woman said in the video, which has gone viral on mainland Chinese social media.
The mother requested an upgrade from economy class, delaying the flight by an hour. Photo: Weibo
Several flight attendants tried to persuade the couple to return to their seats but were ignored.
Other passengers were outraged, and voices can be clearly heard on the video saying, “Get off the plane,” and “Don't waste your time talking to her, just get her off.”
The plane finally took off an hour later.
It is unclear whether the woman was punished for her actions, and the report did not name the airline.
The mother's actions sparked a wave of criticism on social media in mainland China.
“There are plenty of vacant posts in the prison, she could find a place there,” one online observer said.
“It's not the child's fault, it's the parents' education that's the problem. She should take full responsibility for the inconvenience she caused to other passengers,” another said.
Internet users also commented on how airlines were responding to the disruptions.
At one point, a woman's rowdy son bursts into the first class cabin. Photo: Shutterstock
“The cabin crew handled the unrest poorly and the airline has not issued a statement to passengers explaining why the flight was delayed or offered any compensation,” one observer said.
In China, incidents involving airplane seats are frequently in the news.
Last year, an older woman was reported to have yelled at a younger woman on a domestic Jiangxi Air flight after the younger woman refused to move to a window seat.
The elderly woman requested a window seat because she suffers from high blood pressure and heart disease, and the flight attendant resolved the situation by giving her a different seat.
