An irate businessman was arrested after he slapped a female lawyer during an argument over a seat inside an airport terminal in Colombia.

The brawl unfolded after the aggressor, Héctor Santacruz, walked over to the bench at Gate 9 in El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá on Sunday night and asked Claudia Segura to stand up from her seat.

A heated discussion ensued, in which Segura declined to give up her seat so that Santacruz could sit next to his wife, Karen de Santacruz.

Santacruz towered over Segura, as the argument escalated and he suddenly slapped her cell phone out of her hands and struck her in the face.

Three passengers, including a woman, intervened to defend Segura as they shoved the man back, before his own wife stood up and got involved.