I can remember being DEEPLY annoyed when I couldn't get travel insurance when I was 32 weeks pregnant with my first child to go on a last-hurrah trip to Hawaii.
But reading a news report about a passenger on a Royal Air Maroc flight from Casablanca, Morocco, to Bologna, Italy, giving birth mid-flight I've finally let it go (a whole 10 years later!)
The 39-year-old woman went into labour shortly after takeoff on Sunday. The flight was diverted to Barcelona, and the baby boy was born just before landing. There happened to be a midwife on board who helped with the delivery.
The mother and baby were taken to Sant Joan de Deu hospital in Barcelona and are in good health. The flight continued on to Bologna around 50 minutes after landing in Barcelona.
I'm thinking when the Air Maroc website said "Children and babies are welcome on Royal Air Maroc flights. Very attractive fares are offered depending on the type of flight and Magic Universe services desired" it wasn't anticipating welcoming one at 10,000ft.
And let's not even get started on how they'll sort out the baby's citizenship. According to How Stuff Works: "The United Nations considers a child born in-flight to have been born in the airplane's registered country. Some countries point to the city where the child first disembarked the plane as the place of birth, and to the airplane's registered country as the place of citizenship. Of course, citizenship and birthplace are two different topics -- citizenship is typically a larger issue and may require some paperwork, while writing a child's birthplace on a birth certificate is often a less legally significant consideration."
Things could get hairy ...
