Southwest Flight Makes Unscheduled Stop After Passenger Gives Birth On The Plane

A Southwest Airlines flight from Philadelphia to Orlando gained an additional passenger in mid-air yesterday when a woman gave birth on the plane.

The flight took off around 3 p.m. ET on Sunday but was diverted to Charleston after a passenger went into labor, USA Today reports, and landed around 4:30 p.m.

“Medical personnel onboard assisted with the delivery,” a Southwest spokeswoman said in a statement. “Emergency medical technicians met the flight upon landing and transported the parents and baby to an area hospital.”

After 70-minute wait, the flight took off again with the rest of its passengers for Orlando, just an hour behind schedule.

Another passenger on the flight posted a quick video from the plane with the sound of a crying baby, noting that the flight crew “did a great job.”

My @SouthwestAir flight from PHL to MCO was diverted to Charleston because a woman went into labor. Flight crew did a great job. http://pic.twitter.com/63yVrkWWRL

— Izzy Gould (@IzzyGould) December 4, 2016

This isn’t the first baby to be born on a plane, of course; it’s not even the first time we’ve heard of such a thing happening on a Southwest flight: in 2014, a Southwest passenger gave birth on a flight from San Francisco to Phoenix shortly after takeoff. More recently, a Royal Jordanian Airlines passenger went into labor somewhere over the Atlantic and gave birth four hours before the plane could land.