Passport change and border checks are far from the easiest tasks for Shauna Owen due to her unusual birthplace - about 36 thousand feet above the ground. Customs officers are constantly surprised when they see the entry in her passport: "The holder was born on an airplane."
Shona's story
Shona is a representative of a small community of people who came to this world in extremely dramatic ways. In 1990, pregnant Debbie Owen, accompanied by her four-year-old daughter Claire, flew from Ghana, where she worked, to London. Suddenly there was a surprise - she started having contractions. She was moved to the first class, which was completely freed from passengers, and an announcement was made for all people with medical training to report it.
The expectant mother was lucky - the Dutch doctor Wim Bakker, who helped a woman in Ghana to give birth simply in the bushes, was on board. Desperate that she would be left alone with two children if the plane were forced to land in Africa, Debbie struggled to get to London. On the approach to Gatwick airport with the curtains drawn, soft music, with her own doctor and a whole salon at the disposal of Sean Christie Ives (in English her initials look like SKY, which translates as "heaven") was born, increasing the number of passengers on board for one. “I was always told that I was born to travel and now I work in the travel industry,” said Shona, who is currently the head of Internet marketing for a major travel operator. "This is a very good story that everyone is interested in listening to."
Community born in the sky
And that story also became a topic that Shona decided to focus on when she wrote her dissertation.
“When I tell this story, I am always asked how rare or how many children were born on the plane. And I don't have an answer, ”Shauna said. - Therefore, when I was preparing my diploma, I thought that this is a great chance to spend six months studying how many of us there are in the world. It was really fun to read all the stories and interact with the people born on board the plane. My mom met another woman who gave birth in the air, I talked to the pilots, and as a result, a kind of community is already being created. "
Strict rules
She also contacted Debs Lowther, who gave birth to her son Jonathan just four months before Sean herself was born, and the circumstances were unusually similar - she also flew from Africa to the UK, while aboard the same aircraft operator. Most airlines do not keep statistics on births on board, so it is very difficult to accurately calculate everything, but Shona's story is definitely rare, as all airlines have strict rules regarding pregnant women and their children. Although conditions vary from case to case, most operators will allow pregnant women to board the aircraft until the 36th week of pregnancy, but starting from the 28th week, they need to have a signed paper from the doctor with them, which will indicate the date of birth. But, despite this, such situations do happen.
Nationality issue
One of the main questions that arises when a child is born on board an aircraft is his nationality. Citizenship laws differ from country to country. For example, in the UK, children born in the country do not automatically acquire citizenship - they only receive it if the parents are British, that is, the so-called “blood right”. In the United States of America, however, even if a child is born in the water or airspace of a country, he automatically obtains American citizenship in accordance with the "right of the land."
Yesterday all the news feeds were full of reports that the Boeing-777, flying to St. Petersburg from Simferopol, made an unscheduled landing in Rostov-on-Don. The flight had to be interrupted due to the sudden birth of one of the passengers.
On August 8, on board a Rossiya airline, one of the passengers on flight SU6888 began giving birth prematurely. On board among the passengers were doctors who helped the flight attendants to accept them. Everything went well, and the boy was born even before the plane landed in Rostov. There, the mother and the newborn were sent to the hospital, after which the board continued on to the Northern Capital.
You can treat this fact in different ways, but to be honest, I really would not want to be on that plane. Having a baby is always a joy and an extraordinary sacrament, but why get on a plane when your contractions are already beginning?
The duration of the flight from Simferopol to St. Petersburg is 3 hours 15 minutes. Even rapid labor lasts at least four hours from the onset of contractions until the baby is born. Why did the woman in labor take such a risky step? Was it really necessary to be in St. Petersburg? But what about responsibility for your position and for the life of your unborn child? But what about the interests of the rest of the passengers, who waited almost seven hours at the Rostov-on-Don airport until they were sent further?
Of course, it's impossible to think about this when your body is tormented by contractions, but could you foresee such an outcome when buying a ticket?
All flight attendants have the necessary skills to deliver, but this is an extreme case, I think.
And now about the legal side of the issue of childbirth at height:
A child born in the air can acquire three citizenships:
The country to which the plane belongs.
The country in which the birth took place.
The country in which the plane landed.
And one more pleasant fact: a child born on board an airplane gets a lifetime right to free flights. This is a common practice for many airlines. True, carriers often impose some restrictions: no more than ten flights a year or until adulthood.
Now many airlines have every right to refuse a flight to a lady on a drift. This is a very correct decision, otherwise many would rush to buy plane tickets on the eve of childbirth, moreover, foreign companies. And what? You fly over Switzerland on a Swiss flight from Moscow to Zurich, give birth somewhere over Germany and voila! Your child is either Swiss or German))). Plus free flights as a bonus. There would be no end to those willing.
How do you feel about the ladies who decided to give birth on board the plane?
In countries where citizenship is determined mainly or predominantly by the "right of blood", there is nothing to ask about: of course not. With countries where the “right of the soil” is in force, it is more difficult. There is the 1961 UN Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, article 3 of which reads: “For the purpose of determining the obligations of the Contracting States under this Convention, birth on a ship or aircraft shall be deemed to have occurred, respectively, on the territory of the State under whose flag the ship is flying, or on the territory of that The state in which the aircraft is registered "un.org
However, not all countries applying the “soil principle” have ratified this convention (the list can be found here: un.org) In particular, the USA is not included in their number. There is a special explanation of the State Department on this topic: “A U.S.-registered aircraft outside U.S. airspace is not considered to be part of U.S. territory. A child born on such an aircraft outside U.S. airspace does not acquire U.S. citizenship by reason of the place of birth. " (state.gov) But the right to citizenship for a child born on a plane at the moment when he flew over American territory, even in transit, is recognized (according to the same source, a child born on a plane in the United States or flying over its territory would acquire United States citizenship at birth).
At the same time, Canada, which also uses the "right of the soil", ratified this convention. This is not a formality, because there are corresponding provisions in domestic law: Under both the Former Act and the Current Act, persons born on Canadian ships or airplanes were considered to have been born in Canada (americanlaw.com). In addition, in Canada, it is not uncommon for children to be born in their airspace on airplanes in transit anywhere from the United States: in this case, the child also receives Canadian citizenship.
Russia is not one of the parties to the convention, but in our country the very fact of birth on the territory of the Russian Federation from the point of view of citizenship decides little (with the exception of special situations such as birth from a Russian or a foreigner).
It is also worth mentioning that the country of registration of the aircraft is not nearly as obvious as it seems. It is well known that Russian airlines are trying to register their aircraft abroad (in particular, in Bermuda). It is interesting that Bermuda signed the aforementioned 1961 convention (or rather, Great Britain did it for them). So, formally, a child born on an international Aeroflot flight can be considered a native of Bermuda (although they may not recognize this, since Russia does not participate in the convention). However, this fact still does not give him the right to citizenship.
On July 17, on board a plane flying from Khabarovsk to Thailand, one of the passengers had a daughter. Irina, the 36-year-old wife of the Amur businessman and politician Sergei Bovkun, flew to Phuket with her husband and eldest child, apparently hoping to give birth there.
Now airlines and travel agencies are vying to find out how a woman, 38 weeks pregnant, got on a flight - most carriers try not to take such passengers, at least without a doctor's certificate and a letter of guarantee from the expectant mother herself. Although it is not very legal to prohibit boarding a plane ...
One way or another, on the fifth hour of the flight (there were only two hours left before Phuket), events began to develop very quickly. The woman began to have intense contractions and the water broke.
" The flight attendants asked the passengers to respond if there were doctors among them. Two girls responded - senior students of the medical university and a woman paramedic.
The woman in labor was laid on the seats in the tail of the plane, examined, and found everything that was possible, from medical, and partly from improvised materials. True, this turned out to be sparse: only sterile dressing gowns, diapers and bandages were found. Someone found gauze, after giving birth, they pulled the umbilical cord. For disinfection, one of the passengers donated ... a bottle of vodka, which was used to process the umbilical cord, as well as everything that was needed.
One of the girls, Kristina Zamorochko, watched the woman in childbirth, at the same time encouraging her, and the other, Svetlana Sonina (by the way, who was flying on her honeymoon), took the child.
- There was a feeling that Sveta and I had done this more than once,- says Christina Zamorochko, - everything is automatic.
Less than half an hour later, the baby was already born! The students, who had never given birth on their own, had to cope with the umbilical cord entanglement of the cervix, and they also successfully coped with this sudden "practice".
" All passengers held their breath, waiting for the first cry of the newborn (although the most impressionable ones had gone further away, into the bow). After the girl's airways were cleared and a loud scream echoed throughout the cabin, loud applause rang out!
Svetlana and Christina only after everything was over, realized how great the risk was - before that they simply did not have time to think. By the way, they also had to wash the “rodzal” - the shocked flight attendants were not able to do this. Although the crews of the planes are even trained to take childbirth, but, apparently, everyone still has to do their own thing ...
Nevertheless, although the birth went well, my mother needed medical attention - there was simply nothing to sew up small tears, and therefore the bleeding did not stop, and there were two whole hours to Phuket. I had to land a plane at the Hanoi airport, where doctors took Irina and her child to the hospital. Well, and the plane continued its flight in a couple of hours ...
On the third day, mother and newborn Victoria had already been discharged; Vietnamese officials immediately issued a passport for the girl.
" And they promised to encourage future doctors who took delivery in the university administration - after all, the girls behaved with dignity in an unexpected situation and provided professional assistance, which means that the years of study were not in vain!
And, of course, the question arises - who is to blame for the fact that all the passengers, the crew, and, of course, the woman in labor herself with the child experienced such a dangerous adventure?
On the one hand, although airlines require, especially after a period of 32 - 36 weeks, a doctor's certificate or a letter of guarantee from the woman herself, they have no right to not allow her on board at all. And the circumstances can be very different, requiring a truly emergency flight.
On the other hand, it is not very good (although this happened, of course, involuntarily) to make all passengers "participants" in childbirth, to give them considerable excitement, and besides, to delay their rest for several hours.
And, of course, childbirth in such conditions is always a huge risk! The fact that this time everything ended well is just wonderful; but where is the guarantee that there will be competent and responsible doctors on every flight, and that the baby or mother will not need emergency measures to save them?
In a word, happiness that everything ended well!
"And by the way, according to the existing tradition, a child born on board an aircraft receives a lifetime right from the airline to free flights ...
And about when and how to travel by plane during pregnancy -
A baby was recently born on an Indian Airlines plane, in the air, according to CNN news. Everything went quite well and after giving birth, the woman and the baby were taken to a local hospital. Of course, this situation is not very desirable when you have to give birth on an airplane, taxi, train, vacation, or somewhere else outside of medical institutions. That is why women in the last weeks of pregnancy are advised to plan some kind of trips, flights, etc.
What did the airline give this child?
Indian Airlines treated the little passenger carefully enough! The company donated a ticket for life. In short, a person will be able to fly these airlines for free all his life. Not only this company gives unlimited tickets to babies born in the air. Previously, there were also similar cases.
According to representatives of the Jetline Pacific company, 2 children were born on board their aircraft over the past 5 years. But, of course, such childbirth is very risky. If one of the passengers accidentally happens to be a doctor, then the future mom is very lucky! Otherwise, the delivery will be taken by non-medical professionals and it is not known how it will go. Another legal question arises: what nationality the child will be and write in the column "Place of birth". It is difficult to answer such a question unambiguously. One of the most common options is to record the country in which the aircraft is registered. This means, most likely, the child will have Indian citizenship.
Many airlines refuse pregnant passengers, so it is better to pay attention to the rules of these airlines before flying. Most companies, from women from 28 weeks of pregnancy, require a special medical certificate. But starting at 36 weeks pregnant, some airlines are not allowed to fly at all.
