Long-haul flights can be uncomfortable, even without an added element of confrontation. Unfortunately, a father-and-daughter pair had to deal with a cramped plane and a child whose parents left him unchecked, on top of the usual travel discomfort.

A few years ago, on a long overnight flight from India, a family found themselves drawn into a conflict with the people seated behind them. The father and his 14-year-old daughter were sitting in front of a trio: a married couple and their son, about nine or ten years old.

The plane climbed into the night sky, but the calm of the flight was quickly disturbed when the little boy behind them began kicking the girl’s seat. At first the father politely asked the boy to stop. The boy stopped… but only for a short moment, before starting again.

In retaliation, the father fully reclined his seat, which disturbed the boy’s mother sitting behind him. When the mother and her husband complained and asked the flight attendant to intervene, she asked the man if he intended to keep his seat reclined. The father answered yes, and the flight attendant confirmed that he was free to do as he wished.

After that, the couple exchanged a few whispers, and their boy never kicked the girl’s seat again. But for a whole hour, the father remained reclined to make sure the couple had understood the lesson.

Many found this story amusing. One person suggested that the father should have waited until the couple received their drinks, then fully reclined his seat to spill their glass.

Another commented that many people do not understand the impact of their actions until they themselves become victims. The commenter explained that, since the couple did not feel the kicks from their son, they mocked the effect it had on someone else. But when their own comfort was threatened, they understood they had to act.

Some even shared similar stories. A woman recounted that she was flying from Egypt when a man sitting behind her, outraged by the presence of a woman in front of him, began aggressively shaking her seat every time she moved.

At one point the woman leaned back slightly, which prompted the man to call the flight attendant. He shouted that this woman had no right to recline her seat. He pushed with all his strength to raise the backrest so she would have no space to recline.

The flight attendant reminded the man that the passenger had the right to recline her seat if she wished. The woman’s husband offered to switch seats with him, but she remained firm in her decision to keep her seat reclined for the entire seven-hour flight.

Another Reddit user recounted that he was 18 when he was traveling from the United States to the United Kingdom. He was seated opposite a child who was kicking his seat, causing considerable discomfort. The traveler politely addressed the mother and asked her to call her child to order.

The mother shrugged, replying that her son could do whatever he wanted. The commenter retorted that he could do whatever he wanted too, and that if the mother did not want the situation to become terrible, she should control her child. He threatened to humiliate her if she did not.

The mother, unimpressed, remained unmoved. The traveler then stood up and shouted in the cabin that there was a problem with the child. He asked if anyone else felt the same discomfort, or if the mother simply did not know how to raise her son. The woman became furious, but he didn’t care.

When the flight ended, passengers disembarked at the airport where they were met by friends. The mother and her son walked past the group, heads down and without saying a word.