Mom of Baby Born Mid-Flight Will Have to Pay For Diversion
Joe Cortez October 23, 2015
The Taiwanese transportation ministry claims a woman who gave birth to a child aboard a recent flight will be responsible for repayment to the airline.
A Taiwanese woman who gave birth aboard a China Airlines flight last week may be required to pay the costs of diverting the flight. Taiwanese Transportation Minister Chen Jian-Yu announced his intentions of holding the new mother responsible for the incident.
The new mother, identified only by her surname, Jian, was 32 weeks pregnant when she boarded China Airlines Flight 8 from Taipei to Los Angeles. While aboard the aircraft, Jian informed flight attendants that her water broke. A doctor onboard helped to deliver the baby while the pilot diverted the flight to Anchorage, Alaska. One passenger captured a portion of the incident on film:
The Taiwanese transportation ministry claims Jian intentionally hid her pregnancy from airline officials, with the intention of giving birth in the U.S. so her child would be an American citizen. CBS News reports the mother has been denied entry to the U.S., while her home country is seeking reparations for the alleged deception and flight diversion.
“Compensation [To China Airlines] will likely be inevitable,” Chen said in a legislative session, according to The China Post.
A spokesperson for the airline told The China Post that Jian could be held responsible if she failed to provide medical clearance and lied to airline officials about her condition. The airline claims they are working with the mother’s insurance company to determine costs for the birth and diversion.
Meanwhile, Jian’s child remains in international limbo. CBS News reports while the mother was deported, the child remained in the U.S. for additional care. Because the child was birthed in the air, the new flyer’s rights could still be in question.
[Photo/Video: The Kitchen Doctor, YouTube]
When I read the headline, I thought that the woman would be *really* pregnant- like almost full term. 32 weeks is not irresponsibly pregnant to be traveling, in my opinion. China Airlines' policy is that she needed medical clearance (from 28 to 35 weeks) (https://www.china-airlines.com/us/en/fly/on-board/inflight-health-care) , so I don't know if she scammed her way past that (the article doesn't say she did- the airline representative says "IF" she did so...), but to avoid that requirement altogether, she could have simply flown on another airline with looser requirements, like United, which doesn't require any clearance from doctors until the ninth month. And weero, I'm guessing you don't actually know any Taiwanese people. Due to the complicated international status that Taiwan holds, citizenship in a secondary country is like gold that allows them to actually live and travel like most of the world does. No way they will rescind that citizenship to avoid taxes.
@Orion I don't know how this works, but I would think there are international laws governing citizenship for children who were born at sea or in the air. I would think that in this case you'd just inherit the citizenship of your parents. I mean I can't imagine an American woman having a kid mid-flight over the Pacific and then her child not being considered American.
No surprise that this event happened on a Taiwan flag carrier. Glad that no one was harmed and left behind in yet another stunt individuals come up with, Once those kids earn a living and face the double taxation by the IRS, they will rescind that US citizenship inside of one year.
Here is a question for those who want to stop birthright citizenship. Let's say the kid was born on US soil and the US tells this kid he is not a citizen of the United States. Now let's say Taiwon tells the kid he is not a citizen of Taiwon since he was not born there. Where would the kid be from? Nowhere? Don't make a lot of sense does it. Now some of u may say that's what Iran does or that's what Russia does and I would say are we no better than does countries? I say we are.
happy the baby is fine, but this has happened far too many times, talk about a selfish mother who thinks nothing of endangering her son but the lack of respect to the other passengers and the cost involved to the carrier. agree open jaw, stop the birth right crap. try that in the UAE lets see how far see gets