Violent scuffle breaks out on plane over noisy kid, cramped seats

Cramped seats and noisy kids - these are just some of the pet peeves that you might typically encounter on board a flight.

However, a disagreement over these ended up in a hair-pulling incident between three parties on an Air China flight from Chongqing to Hong Kong on Dec 17.

CCTV News said in a Facebook post that two female passengers got into a "simple quarrel" when they complained that a child sitting behind them was making too much noise.

The child's family responded by saying the women had reclined their seats back down too far and was causing their child discomfort.

News reports said the disagreement quickly escalated to a fight and the women began shoving and pulling each other's hair on the plane.

According to a report in the Chongqing Morning Post, the argument continued to escalate to the point that the crew even considered turning the plane around.

Dramatic photos from the incident were shared on social media by fellow passengers which created a stir of comments over the passengers' unruly behaviour.

Fortunately, the flight managed to continue on to the destination and the women and their families were subsequently questioned by the police after they disembarked, said online reports.

This is one of the few incidents of inappropriate behaviour of Chinese passengers on flights this month.

Last week, international media reported that a couple threw hot water on a Thai AirAsia flight attendant when they were apparently dissatisfied with her service.

In another incident, Chinese media reported that a first-time flyer caused a minor scare when he deployed the emergency exit of the plane he was on just moments before his flight was about to take off.

wjeanne@sph.com.sg