Where are you from if you were born at 30,000 feet?
The baby boy who was born aboard a Southwest flight made me wonder aloud, "Where are you from if you were born at 30,000 feet?"
The mother went into labor about 100 miles north of Denver, and the boy was born just south of Cheyenne, Wyo., Southwest spokesperson Paul Flaningan said. The Salt Lake City-bound flight from Chicago was then diverted to Denver, where an ambulance took the mother and child to the Medical Center of Aurora about 20 miles from the airport.
So should the baby's certificate list Wyoming, Colorado, or the latitude and longitude as his birthplace?
According to a revised 1993 Colorado state statute, "when a birth occurs on a moving conveyance within the United States and the child is first removed from the conveyance in Colorado, the birth certificate shall be filed in Colorado, and the place where the child is first removed shall be considered the place of birth."
A Wyoming Department of Health spokesman clarified by e-mail that even though the baby may have been born in Wyoming airspace, the law "would apply to any type of vehicle: boat, train, airplane, car, truck, trailer, or other transportation. The vehicle isn't as important as the idea that the place of birth is determined by where the baby is first removed from the conveyance."
Looks like Denver has a new hometown hero. The mother and the five-pound newborn are doing fine, but the Medical Center of Aurora is respecting the family's privacy and will not be releasing a name, a hospital spokesperson said Monday.
At least the baby will grow up with a built-in icebreaker.
"So where are you from?"
"…Well, the answer's kind of up in the air."
What should the new baby boy be named?
In October, a baby was born up in the skies during an AirAsia flight. The mother and child were awarded free air travel for life. But U.S. airlines rarely give free lifetime passes.
