Southwest Passenger Caught On Video Yelling About Screaming Baby

The man, captured on video enthusiastically expressing his frustrations to flight attendants by a TikTok user, was en route to Fort Lauderdale

Writer/Reporter, PEOPLE

A video showing a plane passenger yelling at flight attendants over a crying baby has gone viral.

In the clip shared to TikTok, the man — whose identity is unknown — vocally expressed his frustrations with Southwest Airlines employees mid-flight after he claimed the baby had been crying on the trip for 40 minutes straight.

"We are in a f---ing tin can with a baby in a goddamn echo chamber and you want to talk to me about being f---ing OK," the man asks in the video before a flight attendant reminds him he's "yelling."

"So is the baby," he replied. "Did that motherf---er pay extra to yell?"

A representative for Southwest declined to comment on the specifics of the situation when reached for comment by PEOPLE but shared the following statement: "We commend our crew for exhibiting outstanding professionalism while handling a challenging situation, and we offer our apologies to the other customers onboard who had to experience such unacceptable behavior."

It's unclear how the man's meltdown escalated to the situation seen in the clip, in which he can also be heard aiming several expletives at flight attendants.

When he was asked to lower his voice, he responded, "Lower that baby's voice!"

As TikTok user Mark Grabowski documented, the flight to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport eventually stopped at Orlando International Airport after being stuck in a holding pattern due to poor weather.

Grabowski then claimed in his TikTok that the man was "refusing to get off the plane" in Orlando — eventually prompting everyone on the flight to get "deplaned."

The irate passenger was later shown in the video talking to authorities and airline employees away from the aircraft. "He tried to plead his case that he had a right to yell because there [were] two adults with the crying baby and he shouldn't have been disturbed," the TikTok user wrote. "Well, that's probably not how his wife imagined their Florida getaway going."

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"It was a little bumpy and uncomfortable for everyone and the child was upset, but we couldn't get up because of the weather, and we were strapped in our seats," Grabowski later told FOX 35. "Just out of nowhere this other passenger in the video basically said shut that baby up, and it escalated from there."

Grabowski also told the station that the flight's crew gave the man the option of either exiting the plane or having everyone else with him forcibly removed.

"He chose the latter, and we all got off the plane and there was a lot of mumbling past him," said Grabowski. "I don't really know what everyone is going through, but it doesn't portray him in good light, but maybe he is going through something and we gotta give everyone a little sympathy."