Watch: Infant Born Inflight Emerges From Plane in Istanbul

A 21 year old woman flying from Libreville, Congo to San Francisco via Istanbul on Turkish Airlines gave birth to a son she calls Bennel during her first flight segment this month. Her husband – who is a doctor – delivered the baby three hours into the flight. Four hours later the aircraft arrived in Istanbul.

There were 144 passengers on board when the plane took off, and 145 when it landed. The rear of the aircraft was cleared to become a “makeshift delivery suite.” Flight attendants took turns holding the infant. A baby was born on Turkish Airlines last year, too by the way.

Here’s video of the newborn inflight, and the family emerging from the aircraft on arrival in Turkey:

No word on whether the woman or child will receive any special flight benefits, or even if they’ll be permitted to re-schedule onward travel without penalty.

Two years ago a woman gave birth on a Saudia flight to New York. They declared an emergency just as they were about to head out over the Atlantic Ocean, dumped fuel, and turned around heading for London Heathrow. The baby and her family were given a free trip.

A woman also gave birth on Jetstar Asia. She named the baby after the airline, and they gave her $1000 in baby supplies. And a baby born on a Cebu Pacific flight was given 1 million frequent flyer miles.

Meanwhile a mother and baby born on Southwest Airlines around the same time apparently got nothing.

In 2015 a woman who didn’t know she was pregnant gave birth onboard an Air Canada flight from Calgary to Tokyo. A woman gave birth on a flight from Taipei to Los Angeles. And an American Airlines flight made a u-turn over the Atlantic when a woman went into labor. And a baby born was born on a Jazeera Airways flight — and was given 18 years of free flights.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

More articles by Gary Leff »

Comments

  1. My doctor let me fly until just up to 7 months. It is a crapshoot in many ways as to how far along you are, honestly, and babies come early. So it is entirely possible she thought she was 7 months and was closer to 8 and gave birth a little early.

    I bet Turkish does something nice for them though. Most overseas carriers love babies and families and would.

  2. She isn’t from the US nor is her husband apparently so why if she due to give birth this month would she fly to the US? Sounds a bit sketchy. Maybe there is a legitimate explanation, but I haven’t been able to find any.

Comments are closed.