Pregnant women giving birth mid-flight may sound incredible but they are not exactly unheard of. In April, a woman travelling in Turkish Airlines went into labour mid-flight and gave birth with the help of the crew. Something similar happened when 36 weeks pregnant Cristina Penton went into labour mid-flight and a Spirit Airlines flight had to be diverted from Fort Lauderdale to Dallas to make an unscheduled stop in New Orleans on June 22.
But here the miracle and joy didn’t just stop at the birth, but the airlines decided to give the newborn a gift of free flights for life – on his birthday! Yes, you read that right.
According to a CNN report, a very pregnant Penton boarded Flight 971 with her children, and started to feel unwell after the flight took off. She intimated the crew of her condition, who tried make her feel comfortable. But soon enough the contractions started, and as luck would have it a paediatrician and nurse were also on the plane.
Though Penton was told not to push, her water broke and after three pushes her son arrived.
“It went really, really quick. There was no time to prepare or land or do anything,” Penton said. “He did what he wanted. We were all just along for the ride,” Penton said while speaking to CNN.
The video of the entire procedure was recorded by a fellow passenger Shelley Hedgecock Starks, who shared it on her Facebook page. She also wrote “We just experienced the birth of a baby in the seat in front of us on our flight and had to do an emergency landing in New Orleans we visited with the doctor that delivered the baby while waiting to get on our flight.”
