Moment pilot leaves the cockpit controls to rescue dad-of-two who became trapped in the toilet cubicle on a Delta flight for 35 minutes when the door broke

A father-of-two had to be freed from a Delta Airlines toilet by the pilot after other cabin crew members had failed to bust the door down.

The 34-year-old, only named as Brent, went for a comfort break which ended up lasting 35 minutes during his family's flight from Salt Lake City to New Orleans.

Brent's dissatisfied partner shared the experience on his behalf with footage of the pilot trying to heave the door open after being refused a refund by the airline's customer services.

She started recounting the tale on Reddit by suggesting that her husband had taken an extended leave of responsibility from their four-year-old and two-year-old deliberately.

She wrote: 'After 5 minutes, I wondered what was going on. Was he using this time as a much-needed break from my children’s whiney demands and frequent tantrums? I didn’t blame him.'

Brent, a father-of-two, was stuck in the toilet for 35 minutes before being freed during the flight from Salt Lake City to New Orleans

The pilot (pictured) had to step in to save the day after the flight attendants and a passenger had failed to release the 34-year-old

The 34-year-old chose to share the experience after the family were denied a refund (stock photo)

However, the mother left with her two children heard someone mention the word 'stuck' and she soon realised that it was in relation to her husband.

She turned around to see two members of the crew yanking at the door to the rear cubicle as she watched on unable to desert her children.

The flight attendants enlisted the help of a male passenger who also failed to provide the magic touch, before the pilot emerged - 20 minutes into the ordeal - to have a go.

'It wasn't until Brent kicked the hell out of the door while the pilot was pulling as hard as possible that Brent finally made his escape,' the post, written by 'StuckDeltaBathroom', revealed.

This rounded off a 35-minute experience after which the writer was just glad that her husband had not taken either of their children with him to the bathroom.

She concluded that Delta asked her not to share the footage, filmed by another passenger who was closer to the end of the plane, but after not receiving a refund for their 'terrible' journey, the mother decided to post them online. 

Many commenters on the post did point out that there are often two pilots on the flight, making one's departure from the cockpit less bizarre than it might sound at first.

Others slammed the author for demanding a refund, suggesting that the response was not proportionate to what actually happened. 

The airline has been contacted for comment.