China Airlines to seek compensation for costs, delay caused by baby’s birth

Staff writer, with CNA





China Airlines’s insurance company plans to seek compensation from a woman who gave birth on a Los Angeles-bound flight on Oct. 8, which forced the plane to make an unscheduled stop in Anchorage, Alaska, Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Jian-yu (陳建宇) told lawmakers yesterday.

Chen made the remarks during a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee.

Media reports have said that the woman, surnamed Chien, had concealed the fact that she was 36 weeks pregnant and had taken the flight so that she could give birth in the US.

Minister of Transportation and ommunications Chen Jian-yu listens to a question from a lawmaker at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) criticized the woman for ignoring the safety of herself, her baby and the other passengers on the flight just to get a US passport for her child.

It was not reasonable for the airline to shoulder the costs incurred from the plane making an unscheduled stop in Anchorage and arriving in Los Angeles several hours behind schedule, she said.

As the airline’s largest shareholder, the ministry should ensure that the company demands compensation from the woman to make up for the losses the airline incurred, Lo said.

A woman, surnamed Chien, who gave birth to a baby girl on a Los Angeles-bound China Airlines flight on Oct. 8, speaks to officials at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Saturday after being deported from the US. Photo: Yao Kai-shiou, Taipei Times

Chen said the ministry would do just that to deter a similar incident from happening in the future, but added that there are no legal penalties the ministry can impose in such situations.

China Airlines yesterday said that its insurer is working out the costs of the incident and would seek compensation from the woman.

It reiterated that pregnant women should consult their doctors before taking flights.

China Airlines said its regulations state that healthy expectant mothers whose pregnancy has not reached 32 weeks or who are at least eight weeks from their due date should be treated as normal passengers. Those who are 32 weeks pregnant or more must submit medical information sheets signed by their doctors.

About six hours into the flight, the woman, who said that she was not yet 32 weeks pregnant, told flight attendants that her water had broken. Crew members immediately asked for help among the passengers and Angelica Zen, an internal medicine-pediatrics resident at a Los Angeles hospital, who was returning to the US from her honeymoon in Bali, volunteered.

The captain told the airline of the situation and asked for permission to land at the nearest airport — Anchorage — for the safety of the woman and her baby. The baby was born about 30 minutes before the plane landed in Anchorage.

After the plane landed, the woman and the baby were taken to a local hospital and the plane continued on to Los Angeles after refueling. It arrived more than three hours behind schedule.

The woman arrived back in Taiwan on Saturday night after reportedly being deported from the US. She told aviation police that her baby, a girl, was being taken care of by a friend in the US.