Screaming Child Melts Down on a Flight, Then Another Passenger Screams Back—And It Worked

A classic clip of a child screaming on a Phoenix – New York flight has gone viral, with a passenger offering commentary and frustration when – of camera – another passenger screams back. The child appears to calm down.

It’s not ok to scream at someone else’s child. Even though it worked! Responding to a scream with a scream surprises, confuses and startles the child. Maybe it intimidated them. But you wouldn’t want someone screaming at your child!

What’s going on here is breaking the pattern and there are better ways to do it, try peekaboo, funny faces, doing something novel instead.

WATCH: Someone snapped and yelled back at a screaming child on a plane.
Is that ever okay… or crossing the line?

Shouldn’t it be the parents job to discipline or comfort their crying child?

Have you ever seen this happen.

Thoughts? ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/8X204mSub8

— Tony Lane (@TonyLaneNV) January 13, 2026

Aside from the passenger filming here looking like a dead ringer for Jerry Springer, online comments break into three camps:

• “Parents should handle it, an adult snapped but I get it.”
  
• “Never OK to scream at a child – blame the parents or call crew.”
  
• “Flying with kids is hard and people need to tolerate normal kid behavior.”

There’s a lot a parent can do to minimize noise. My daughter used to go 15 hours without a peep at six months old. My son takes a lot more work. Here are the 13 key elements of our approach to travel with young kids:

1. Know the newborn vs infant sweet spot. Newborns are easy if you stay ahead of needs: sleep, feed, change, move them when they’re uncomfortable.

   The sweet spot for long-haul is roughly 3 – 9 months, when they still sleep a ton and aren’t trying to climb everywhere yet.

2. Feed fast, on-demand. Be ready to feed immediately when they start to fuss, especially on takeoff/early in the flight.

   If bottle-feeding, have bottles prepped and use the baby liquid exemption to bring all the water you actually need through security so you’re not scrambling onboard, or collect the water from a flight attendant in advance.

3. Pack more activities than you think you need. For toddlers, assume very short attention spans and plan to keep switching activities: small toys, books, simple games. The job is constant rotation so they never get to the bored phase.

4. Snacks are your second line of defense. Don’t rely on the airline’s catering. Bring lots of familiar, easy snacks and be comfortable basically using them as bribes to keep up blood sugar and mood level.

5. Buy space when you can. Business class is actually good here. Use miles and cash offers to get more space, or consider an extra seat. Space means less climbing over other people, easier movement, and more room to entertain the kid.

6. Proactively choose the right seats. Prioritize bulkheads/bassinet positions on long-haul when available. Make absolutely sure you’re seated together, and for many kids, give them the window so they’re not trying to crawl across strangers to see out.

7. Time flights around their sleep, not yours. Aim to take off near bedtime so the plane’s white noise works in your favor. For short-haul, fly midday. Avoid brutal early-morning or very late flights that blow up their sleep schedule and trigger meltdowns.

8. Break up big trips. I deliberately overnighted on trips to Bora Bora, Australia, and Europe with a baby. Even Hawaii! Grabbing a hotel room rather than pushing them through two long flights keeps them fresh and functional and reduces the chance of a midjourney meltdown.

9. Recreate the bedtime routine on the plane. Treat the cabin like home, with pajamas and teeth brushing in the lav, then the same books and stories sequence you use at home so they recognize “oh, now it’s sleep time.”

10. Unlimited tablet time. This may be controversial to some but flights are loved because normal screen time rules don’t apply. Don’t rely on the wifi. Preload age-appropriate contents in advance. Age-appropriate headphones are a must.

11. Use movement strategically. When it’s allowed, walk the aisles with them, change their environment, and even play with them in the lav for a bit to break up the monotony.

12. Visibly parent when things go wrong. Other passengers mostly get it if a baby cries, as long as you’re obviously trying: feeding, walking, soothing, rotating toys, adjusting seats, etc.

    What sets people off is parents who check out and stop responding while everyone else takes the noise. So err on the side of active, even “performative,” effort so people see you working the problem.

13. Assume crying has a cause, and think through responses in advance. Crying means hunger, fatigue, discomfort, pressure, boredom. “If it’s X, I try A/B/C; if that fails, I move, feed, walk, or reset.” That way you’re not improvising in panic at 35,000 feet.

What would you have done here with the screaming?