Mother and Baby Born on Plane Given Free Flights for Life

The fact that the baby was born safely and without any serious health issues for baby or child is, in itself, a bit miraculous. The AirAsia flight was diverted from its course to Kuching on Borneo Island and made an emergency landing in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in order to try to accommodate the birth. But the baby didn't wait and was delivered as the plane descended for landing. A doctor was on board who delivered the baby with the help of flight attendants and other passengers.

Liew Siaw Hsia is 31-years-old and there is no word at this time as to when exactly the baby was due to be born. But both mother and baby appear to be doing well and were visited in the hospital by Moses Devanayagam, the director of operations for AirAsia. He decided to give the mother and child free flights for life on his airline, as a celebration of the unique circumstances of the child's birth.

You have to acknowledge AirAsia's quickness to use the incident as a positive marketing story for the airline. In the U.S., one would have to imagine that there would be a multitude of legal ramifications to an incident such as this. Was the doctor licensed at the time of the birth? Should the airline have allowed a woman who appeared to be ready to give birth to fly on the plane? Is the woman liable for potentially endangering the lives of other passengers? It sounds insane, but all of those questions would likely have to be answered in the U.S., all while the story would be terribly scrutinized in the media.