In early April, a woman gave birth during a flight from Jamaica to New York City. Both mother and baby were okay, but it made headlines because it’s not every day that a baby is born on an airplane. That’s probably because most doctors recommend pregnant women don’t fly after 34 weeks. You hear stories about women not making it to the hospital and having to give birth in a car or at home (this happened to Seth Meyers’ wife), but airplane birth stories are rare. Well, there must be something in the, err, air, this April, because it happened again this past Friday.
On April 24, a woman named Ashley Blair, who was 38 weeks pregnant, went into labor in the middle of a Delta Airlines flight from Atlanta to Portland. Luckily for Ashley, two female EMTs happened to be on the flight. With help from other passengers and flight attendants, they were able to put together a makeshift medical kit and help Ashley safely deliver the baby. Little Brielle Renee was born just before the plane made an emergency landing.
A woman went into labor on a Delta Air Lines flight on Friday, with passengers stepping in to help deliver the baby while the plane was in mid-air.
The woman, whose name was given as Ashley, was on flight 478 from Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport to Portland International Airport in Oregon on April 24 when the baby began to arrive, per KOIN and KATU. She gave birth about 30 minutes before the plane made an emergency landing in Portland at around 10 p.m. local time, according to the outlets.
Two emergency medical technicians on board as passengers helped deliver the baby, along with flight attendants and crew members, KOIN reported.
Tina Fritz and Kaarin Powell, the two EMTs who delivered the baby, were friends returning from vacation together and happened to be on the aircraft by chance.
A flight attendant asked over the intercom for any medical personnel on board to ring their service bell. “Then the steward came up to us and he goes, ‘Hey, we have a lady up front who thinks she’s going into labor. Contractions are about three minutes apart. Can you guys check her out?’ ” Fritz told KOIN.
She explained that they had to borrow blankets from passengers and got the flight attendant to cut off his shoelace to use as a tourniquet to restrict Ashley’s blood flow to start an IV.
“Within three really good pushes, the baby was out and doing perfect. Mom was a rock star, like, mom did so good,” she continued. “I cut the cord and we wrapped her up… then, we gave baby back to mom, and we taxied in, so the whole plane cheered for mom. It was great.“
On Tuesday, People published an exclusive interview with one of the EMTs, Tina Fritz, about what went down. According to Tina, she and her friend/fellow EMT Kaarin Powell had never assisted in a delivery before. Since there were no extra blankets or an obstetrical kit available, they borrowed blankets from passengers. They also used shoelaces to tie off the umbilical cord and start a tourniquet for an IV. Those women are amazing for how well they handled the situation. Ashley is so lucky that they were on board.
Tina also shared pictures of Ashley and baby Brielle, who weighed 5lbs 8oz. They’ve also kept in touch with Ashley and both mother and baby are doing well. But my goodness, what an eventful flight! That is a story that everyone involved with is going to be telling at dinner parties for the rest of their lives. Baby Brielle is always going to have one hell of an ice breaker story, too.
Baby Born on Board Delta Flight Pictured with Mom Moments After Birth as EMT Shares New Delivery Details (Exclusive) https://t.co/TZcGyN699V
— People (@people) April 29, 2026
Photos credit: IMAGO/Nicolas Koutsokostas/Avalon, Tina Fritz via Facebook
That is a crazy story! Congrats Mom! I hope the baby was in US air so no one will try to deport this little one! Just kidding – I have no idea how it works when a baby is born in the air.
Sending best health wishes to baby and Mom.
Gotta say, that’s where my mind went with the mention of that first woman flying to the US from Jamaica. I hope they’re OK. And wondered if they’ll consider the kid American.
I’m glad everything worked out on this flight! I’m perplexed by the ’emergency landing’ in PDX since that was their destination anyway, but that’s a tiny point. Maybe that means they sent an ambulance out to the plane ASAP.
They’re paramedics, muuuuch more training than EMTs and can do things like intubate and start IVs
What a happy story! Not many babies can list a plane in the air as a place of birth!
Oh, I cannot even imagine trying to give birth in a narrow airplane space! So many things had to go right. Whew!
Welcome to the madness, Baby Brielle.
What a beautiful name for a baby.. so happy everyone is doing ok and that the parents didn’t name that baby Delta lol. (Also I think that baby should be able to fly Delta free for life now or at least get a ton of FF points)
I didn’t know you could even board a plane at 38 weeks pregnant. That’s a huge gamble!
I was going to say something similar, I’m surprised she was allowed to fly in the first place. Back when I used to work for an airline here in Canada flying up to (not including) week 38 was ok, but a doctor’s note was required. In any case, glad everyone seems to be doing well!
My mom died unexpectedly when I was 37 weeks pregnant and I had to fly across country to take care of things. I had to get an OK from my OB, and I had to get checked out at a hospital before a return flight.
How horrible for you to lose your mother right before you were having a baby. I’m so sorry for your loss. My brother died the day my daughter went into labor with my first grandchild. Such a poignant mix of sorrow and joy….<3
Unless there was a truly urgent reason for her to fly, I would not recommend it when 38 weeks pregnant! My twins were breech and wedged sideways, and my 10 pound 8 ounce son had the cord wrapped around his neck and had breathed in meconium. We would have all died were we not able to get to the hospital in time. (I’m not for “wild” births!!)
That’s what I thought too – that airline policy would forbid a woman that far along from boarding. It’s a huge liability for the airline. But maybe times have changed. I was last pregnant 19 years ago.
I’ve always been told not to fly after a certain time in pregnancy for this very reason? Seems like a huge risk. Glad they were ok!
In nursing school we had clinical rotations throughout all the specialties. My turn at OB was a nightmare. I had the bad luck to be “assisting” (in that I was a nursing student I was responsible for little things like fetching or handing) a traumatic non surgical hospital birth with a cord around the baby’s neck and mom hemorrhaging. Both made it but she lost her uterus and the baby may have neuro deficits. (Parents insisted on a ‘natural’ birth). It was one big reason why I did not choose OB/GYN to work in.
I’m happy everything went well and mom and baby are healthy but this could have gone very very wrong very very easily and very very quickly. I’m being judgmental here, I know, but I hope there was a super important reason why she was on a plane that late in her pregnancy and not just returning from a babymoon vacation.
I’m being hella judgmental. We live in “me first” times and I doubt she had a good justification for this or any concern for the impact on the other passengers.
Glad everything turned out okay and everyone is well. Flying at 38 weeks is nuts and they were extremely lucky to have EMTs on board, have no complications, and be a position to make an emergency landing like that. The pressurized cabins are rough on much older babies, I can’t imagine what that’s like for one that’s minutes old. It used to be that airlines just actually wouldn’t let you board if you were extremely heavily pregnant, nobody wants the potential liabilities involved in these scenarios.
Is this the new way to avoid astronomical hospital bills? How much does an airline charge if you have a baby on their plane?
Not much savings when the lawsuits begin: people who missed important events, possibly including births in their own families. Parents of children who are traumatized from hearing a birth with no emotional preparation.
I’m glad mama and baby are doing well, but she and the airline should both be held liable for this massive imposition on hundreds of other people.
@mightymolly, seriously? Inconveniences happen in life. You can be late to a meeting or other event for any number of reasons. Stuff happens. Why be a pill about the birth of a beautiful baby? Not to mention the great excuse for being late! Besides, they were flying into Portland. Many Portland natives (I am one) tend to be chill (or at least not so uptight as to sue at the drop of a hat) and celebrate the positive.
I can’t imagine being stuck in traffic, navigating parking, standing in a two hour security line, dealing with TSA nonsense, being squeezed into a tiny seat for a 6 hour tedious flight, and then having to endure listening to a the physical trauma of a medical event. Not to mention all the children on the plane who had to endure all of those events and were already stretched to the edge of their coping mechanisms. It’s an incredibly selfish choice and such a white woman privilege type of thing to assume the goodwill of other passengers.
Wow, that is some twisting of the circumstances to get to the conclusion that the woman was “selfish” and that it was “a white woman privilege type of thing to assume the goodwill of other passengers”! Did you come to this conclusion before or after you saw her picture?
Earlier this month on a flight from Kingston to JFK a woman gave birth shortly before the plane landed. Some reports indicate that the woman is jamaican, and the nationality of her child is at issue (born in US airspace or not?). So, only white female Jamaicans would be selfish and dare fly, pregnant, from Kingston to jfk? 🙄
Clearly you find flying stressful under any circumstances. Maybe you should consider taking trains.
Several years ago, on a UK-US flight, my SO (MD) helped with a medical emergency on board. He was stunned that the plane lacked even very basic medical supplies. It’s scary that these planes aren’t required to have basic medical supplies and equipment on board. (And if they are, they’re not following through.)
Legal liability? To have the supplies and no trained staff. If things go south, everyone gets sued.
These days some grocery stores ban staff from stopping or even mentioning thefts. Too much liability if they act.
What do they put on the birth certificate as place of birth? And if the plane is going from one side of the US to the other, what is the time of birth?
The story also makes me wonder what would happen if you were going from say the USA to Europe and had the baby mid flight. What are you a citizen of? So many questions …
I’m not sure what they put for place of birth if it’s over international waters, tho this can hardly be the first time that happened and I’m sure there’s a rule.
Most countries recognize citizenship by descent from mother or father or both: the only citizenship issue would be if mom & dad were stateless or neither could pass their citizenship to baby. Generally, if mom is a US citizen, or dad is an US citizen and is married to mom, the baby is a US citizen no matter where they’re born.
But the other issue is that MAGA is trying to do away with birthright citizenship. So if that woman on the flight was Jamaican flying to the US and her baby was born over the states, is the baby American? Assuming that’s what the mother would want, and maybe right now she wouldn’t.
I really hope she was on there for a legitimately urgent reason like a family death because otherwise…that’s quite the gamble to make with your own life or possibly the baby’s. Everybody got very lucky that turned into a happy ending. Could have ended a lot more traumatic for everybody on that plane.
They should’ve named the baby Delta
– all the best!