Man sparks debate about flying with children after documenting reaction to baby’s screams on 29-hour flight

‘At that point I’d start screaming along’ one critic wrote in the TikTok video’s comments

A man has sparked a debate about travelling etiquette after documenting his irritation with a baby who cried continuously on his “29-hour” flight to Berlin.

Henry Beasley, a member of the New Zealand band Balu Brigada, captured his annoyance with the screaming infant in a video posted to the band’s TikTok last week. He asked viewers to “rate my 29-hour flight to Berlin”.

As the camera focused on Beasley’s face, an initial clip captured the baby’s screams in the background while thje rest of the video compiled the various moments the child could be heard crying during the flight.

In each instance, Beasley shared his eye-twitching reaction to the loud disturbance and he even joked in the beginning of the clip that the baby was off to a “strong start”.

As the screams continued, Beasley noted in a text caption on the video that “the kid’s got some lungs,” before joking about the child’s “great projection”.

“A nice long one here,” Beasley wrote at one point, in reference to a persistent scream that lasted a few seconds.

The child’s shrieks apparently continued even as the lights were dimmed on the plane, with Beasley joking in a text caption: “Bring it on home now…” as his eyes continued to twitch.

He concluded the video with a humorous rating of the child’s incessant cries: “Stellar performance. Incredible stamina. 10/10.”

As of 12 October, Beasley’s video has been viewed more than 10.4m times on TikTok and sparked a debate about flying with young children.

“Honestly there should be kid-free flights and kid flights,” one person wrote, with the comment liked more than 220,000 times. Another person wrote: “They shouldn’t allow kids on flights longer than four hours”.

“I would pay EXTRA for kid-free flights,” someone else said, while one viewer joked: “At that point I’d start screaming along.”

The opinion that young children shouldn’t be taken on long flight was also shared by parents, with one person writing: “I know some people don’t have the option, but I never took my babies or toddlers on flights. Ever. It’s painful for everyone.”

While many viewers were in agreement that Beasley’s flight experience seemed unbearable, and that child-free flights are the answer, there were also those who defended the parents, and the child, with some pointing out that the experience was likely hardest for them.

“Must be the ears, kids are sensitive to height and yes the moms are the most stressed,” one person commented, while another said: “I feel bad for the passengers, but I can’t imagine being ‘that parent’ either! The stress would be insane.”

“You think your flight was bad? Think of that poor mother’s,” someone else wrote.

As for whether Beasley himself agreed with the concept of child-free flights, the musician responded to a comment and suggested that those upset about crying children on planes could use headphones and listen to his music instead.

“Or you can just plug in some earphones and crank some bangers directly into your skull,” he said, before sharing examples of some of the songs passengers can listen to to drown out the noise.

In the comments under the video, parents praised Beasley for his response, with one person thanking him for “defending” them. “As a mom, thank you for defending us in a good way,” they wrote.

Another said: “Thank you for your response, sincerely, a mom,” while another parent revealed that they would be downloading Beasley’s music because of his response.