Kiwi's long-haul flight nightmare goes viral on TikTok: 'That poor mother'

A Kiwi musician's video of a long-haul flight has gone viral after capturing one of travel's challenges.

Lead member of the band Balu Brigada, Henry Beasley, filmed himself on a recent flight to Berlin, which involved sitting nearby a screaming toddler.

To pass the time, Beasley filmed a TikTok about the experience, which has been viewed almost 11 million times.

In the video, Beasley is shown doing an exaggerated eye twitch while the sound of howling can be heard in the background.

The lead guitarist and singer, who hails from Auckland, then used the text overlay feature, to ask viewers to: "Rate my 29-hour flight to Berlin."

The footage then cuts to Beasley at different points of the long flight. All the while, the toddler's powerful screams can be heard, prompting Beasley to write "this kid's got some lungs," on the video.

"Stellar performance, incredible stamina. 10/10" he wrote at the end of the video.

The video's accompanying text read: "Hey babe, how was your flight?"

Fortunately, Beasley travelled with a pair of good-quality noise-cancelling headphones, which helped dim the sound.

The musician's experience clearly struck a chord with viewers and the video has garnered more than 28,600 comments.

Some felt bad for the musician while others reserved their pity for the parents of the child.

"I would pay EXTRA for a child-free flight," one person wrote.

One person said they felt for everyone involved.

"I feel bad for the people next to these children. Also the parents," they wrote.

"That poor mother," another added.

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Some said the experience confirmed their decision to be child-free.

"I think my tubes just tied themselves," one viewer joked, while another said: "And people have the audacity to ask me why I don't want kids," another added.

After one viewer suggested there be "kid-free flights and kid flights," Beasley responded with a second video.

"Or you could just plug in some headphones and crank some bangers directly into your skull."

Stories of the TikTok quickly circulated the internet, something Beasley found ironic.

Filming another video, which showed a screenshot of the articles, Beasley joked "Me breaking my back for 10 years as a musician only to end up in 'the sun' for a TikTok," he wrote.

"I'll take it," he added in the video caption.

This article was first published by the NZ Herald and is republished here with permission.