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Fight or flight?

Footage captured the dramatic moment that two male passengers clashed during a wild inflight rumble over a reclined seat.

The midair kerfuffle kicked off Saturday during a Jetstar Airways flight from Bali, Indonesia, to Melbourne, Australia, Jam Press reported.


  A man in a baseball cap (pictured) attempts to grab the other. Jam Press/@witchtrain A man in a baseball cap (pictured) attempts to grab the other. Jam Press/@witchtrain

In the wild video, a middle-aged man with a crew cut can be seen engaged in a heated, expletive-laden exchange with people in the row behind him.

“Do you think one of us is going to f–king die?” shouted the passenger, before labeling the people behind him “drunk f–king pieces of s–t.”

The situation escalated after a man in a baseball cap gets up and attempts to grab him by reaching over the seats as other flyers cry out in shock.

Thankfully, a quick-thinking man in blue grabbed the enraged assailant by the arm and dragged him back to his seat, potentially preventing inflight fisticuffs.


  “We have a zero-tolerance policy for disruptive and abusive behavior on our flights,” declared a Jetstar Airways representative. Jam Press/@witchtrain “We have a zero-tolerance policy for disruptive and abusive behavior on our flights,” declared a Jetstar Airways representative. Jam Press/@witchtrain

At that moment, flight attendants scrambled to the scene to de-escalate the situation, with one declaring, “Boys, that’s enough.”

A Jetstar Airways representative has addressed the altercation in a statement.

“We have a zero-tolerance policy for disruptive and abusive behavior on our flights,” they declared. “Our crew members are trained to de-escalate incidents involving unruly passengers and we thank them for how they managed this situation.”

They have since launched an investigation into the incident.


  A male passenger leans into the flyers behind him. Jam Press/@witchtrain A male passenger leans into the flyers behind him. Jam Press/@witchtrain

This isn’t the first time a reclined seat has sparked a midair row.

In September, Cathay Pacific banned a couple from flying with them after a tiff over the angle of one’s air chair devolved into a shouting match involving xenophobic insults.

In general, etiquette experts advise flyers to avoid leaning their seat back unless they can guarantee that it won’t inconvenience the person behind them.

“Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should do it,” Tami Claytor of Always Appropriate: Image & Etiquette Consulting told HuffPost. “Reclining your seat and interfering with someone else’s comfort violates the basic principle of etiquette.”

However, this golden rule differs depending on the duration of the trip.

While it’s generally agreed that reclining way back is poor form during a puddle jump, on a long fight “it’s unreasonable to expect each passenger not to do what they can to get comfortable,” according to decency guru Diane Gottsman.

“If it’s a red-eye, sleep is important and reclining is acceptable, especially since everyone else is reclining at the same time,” she said.

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