Woman Gives Birth On AirAsia Flight; Woman & Child Given Free Flights For Life

[Andi C 0]

Baby arrives prematurely on AirAsia flight to Kuching

 

2009/10/22

 

Regina Lee

 

PUTRAJAYA: A baby boy arrived unexpectedly during an AirAsia flight to Kuching.

 

Liew Siaw Hsia, a 31-year-old waitress from Taiping, took the flight from Penang last night when she was just 27 weeks pregnant, a week shy of the recommended travel ban for pregnant mothers.

 

When she boarded the flight, she said that there was already some discomfort.

 

But 20 minutes into the journey, she started feeling contractions and the flight crew immediately made an emergency diversion to Kuala Lumpur.

 

"When I started feeling a lot of pain, I was still too nervous to ask for assistance. It was when I couldn't take it anymore that I asked the passenger beside me for help," said Liew.

 

She said that the flight attendants tried to calm her down and to hold on from giving birth, but the pain was too unbearable.

 

"They immediately asked the other passengers sitting around me to move elsewhere, and asked for a doctor on the PA system," she said.

 

On the flight was Dr Ronald Tang, another passenger, who quickly volunteered his services to the nervous mother while the cabin crew held her hand throughout the entire ordeal.

 

The baby was safely delivered in mid-air when flight AK 6506 was being re-routed to Kuala Lumpur.

 

As soon as the aircraft landed, a waiting ambulance and paramedics whisked the baby and mother to the Putrajaya Hospital here.

 

AirAsia director of operations Moses Devanayagam visited the mother and child yesterday to congratulate them, and to also present them both with free flights for life.

 

"I would like to congratulate Liew and wish her all the best of luck.

 

"Delivering a baby at 2,000 feet is indeed a very rare experience, and certainly she will cherish the moment forever," he said.

 

Flight AK5606 was on its way to Kuching but had to be re-routed to the Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) in Sepang when a pregnant passenger told crew members she was in labour pains.

 

Liew Siaw Hsia, 31, gave birth through the normal delivery to a premature but healthy boy, who became the first born in an AirAsia aircraft.

 

Edd Razhe, the personal assistant to the AirAsia chairman, said when the pilot was informed of the emergency, he contacted the control tower requesting a re-route to LCCT.

 

"The ambulance was already at the airport to take the woman and her baby to Putrajaya Hospital," he said when contacted here, today.

 

Edd said although it was an emergency, situation in the aircraft was normal and under control.

 

AirAsia will provide a lifetime of free flights to both Liew and her son to all destinations. - BERNAMA

 

Source: http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/20091022180142/Article/index_html

[Kenneth Chong WT 0]

Wow...free flight for life! I hope both mum and baby are doing fine!

[Izhar Z 1]

Wow.... the free flights - do they include D7 flights. Haha....

 

But on a side note, I'm a guy, so I dont know too much about delivering baby, or anything prior to that, but she still boarded the flight even though there was "already some discomfort while boarding", and she was "too nervous to ask for assistance when she started feeling the pain". I wonder if it was her 1st experience. But congrats anyway, new child, free flight for life...

[Cheng Long 0]

Hmm... free flights for life.. Just hope that they won't quietly reverse the decision, especially after the news subside and no one cares about it..

[Hon Kit 3]

But her husband still got to pay.

 

Reported gave birth at 2000 feet. On approach already?

[Gavin Andrew David 6]

Must've been holding

[Ja Singh 2]

hope this does not encourage others to try to give birth on flight for free flights for life!

Edited October 22, 2009 by jadivindra

[V Wong 0]

AK,like other airlines, is strict about not boarding lady more than 34 weeks (or is it 32 weeks?) pregnant. Witnessed it last week at LCCT where a woman more than 34 weeks pregnant tried to check in and was refused.

[Andi C 0]

Now, everyone can be born in-flight?

[BC Tam 2]

New way to 'stop' premature birth

 

A drug used to treat cancer can stop contractions and may prevent premature labour, researchers say.

 

The Newcastle University team tested the drug Trichostatin A on tissue taken from 36 women undergoing a caesarean.

 

...........

 

read in full from the BBC

 

You think eventually they will carry this in the medical emergency pack on all flights ?

[Azman MN 1]

Based on my wife's experience with pregnancy, feeling discomfort is all part of being pregnant. At about 27 weeks, the stomach is already sticking out, your back hurts, the baby is already moving, your digestion has gone bonkers, so she probably didn't think that it was a big deal when she boarded the flight.

 

I think they mentioned that 28 weeks is the cut-off for flying, but it really depends on the airline.

 

The baby is very premature though and luckily there were no complications. Very happy that both are doing well.

[Waiping 12]

By right she would need a medical cert to confirm her pregnancy "age" before she could board the plane, right? Nothing mentioned about her husband so apparently she was traveling alone, which I think is a bit risky in the first place.

[Azman MN 1]

By right she would need a medical cert to confirm her pregnancy "age" before she could board the plane, right? Nothing mentioned about her husband so apparently she was traveling alone, which I think is a bit risky in the first place.

 

That depends on the airline. Some airlines say that up to 28 weeks is ok, beyond that you need doctor's letter, but 32 weeks is absolute max.

[Yusoff 1]

PEN-KCH route on the 21st? The aircraft's is the 9M-AHO, the Skytrax/CAPA 07 Airline of the Year livery. Speaking of being lucky....

[Ignatius 4]

The baby boy, who created national headlines when he was born on an AirAsia plane, has been named Asia Liew Ya Hang.

 

His mother Liew Siaw Hsia said the Chinese name ‘Ya Hang’ means ‘AirAsia’ in Mandarin.

 

“It’s the best name I can give my son who was the first baby born on the airline’s plane,” she said in a statement yesterday.

 

The mother and baby are currently at the Putrajaya Hospital.

 

Asia Liew Ya Hang was safely delivered on board Flight AK 6506 on Oct 21 when the aircraft was about 800m in the air.

 

The flight from Penang to Kuching was diverted to the low-cost carrier terminal here when Liew went into premature labour.

 

The airline has presented Liew and the baby free flight tickets for life to celebrate the birth.

Source-Thestar.com.my

 

Wow, soo nice of AirAsia for the life time offer although that seems to be a standard practice, never knew it would happen in Malaysia.

[Gavin Andrew David 6]

She was full term from what I hear . I heard something about her lying that she was not due for a long time . But this is just what I heard , could be just a rumor

[Tim Lee 6]

Still at 800m huh? I guess the baby was delivered almost during touchdown.

[Naim 6]

She was full term from what I hear . I heard something about her lying that she was not due for a long time . But this is just what I heard , could be just a rumor

 

What I don't understand is, why reward something which caused much disruption to other people and the airlines? Not to mention cost.

[Isaac 0]

OH MY GOD ! Parents should think wisely before they name their child as the name plays an important role. He/She could be a potential big joke at school. Everyone can be making fun of you because of your name. What a BAD name that is ! Pity the baby boy.

[Li Ren 2]

OH MY GOD ! Parents should think wisely before they name their child as the name plays an important role. He/She could be a potential big joke at school. Everyone can be making fun of you because of your name. What a BAD name that is ! Pity the baby boy.

 

Next time his friends will shout 'AirAsia is approaching' when they see him from far

[Ignatius 4]

ANd if the boy is thin, they'll call him AK320, and if he's bigger/chubbier, they'll call him AK's A340/A330 wakakkaa.. poor fella..

[Waiping 12]

OH MY GOD ! Parents should think wisely before they name their child as the name plays an important role. He/She could be a potential big joke at school. Everyone can be making fun of you because of your name. What a BAD name that is ! Pity the baby boy.

 

Ya. It's ok if they decided to name "Tony" or "Freddy" as in Semangat Sir Freddy. But this is a bit out.

[Naim 6]

I don't think JPN will accept registration of a person's name similar to a country's/continent's. Mom should have been smarter.

Edited October 28, 2009 by Naim

[C.Foo 3]

Another aviation enthusiest I see

[S V Choong 4]

OH MY GOD ! Parents should think wisely before they name their child as the name plays an important role. He/She could be a potential big joke at school. Everyone can be making fun of you because of your name. What a BAD name that is ! Pity the baby boy.

 

I agree, it is a bad name, how unfortunate.

 

I don't think JPN will accept registration of a person's name similar to a country's/continent's. Mom should have been smarter.

 

That is true in the case of China, Taiwan, HK, Korea and Japan where Chinese characters are used for surnames and given names. They are very strict about a child's name during registration. Names cannot be written in Chinese (or Chinese/Japanese kana in Japan) cannot be registered. Someone in China tried to used "1" or even question mark (?) just to be special. Since it is not Chinese, they got refused big time.

 

Since Malaysia is not a country that uses Chinese characters. I guess the folks at National Registry Centre wouldn't be Chinese literate anyway. Nobody would have guessed Liew Ya Hang means "Air Asia Liew" in Chinese. Even for Chinese literate person, they would not have know by looking at Roman alphabets alone that "Ya Hang" means Air Asia unless it is written in Chinese characters. She should be able to register that name in Malaysia, unless it caught the attention of the authorities through media.

Edited October 28, 2009 by S V Choong