{"id":44002,"date":"2026-04-07T17:30:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T17:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=44002"},"modified":"2026-04-07T17:30:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T17:30:07","slug":"baby-born-on-a-plane-has-no-country-experts-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=44002","title":{"rendered":"Baby born on a plane has no country, experts say"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>A passenger traveling on Caribbean Airlines from Jamaica to New York went into labor and <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/04\/05\/us-news\/caribbean-airlines-passenger-gives-birth-aboard-ny-bound-flight-as-airport-officials-suggest-crafty-name-for-newborn\/\">gave birth as the flight was landing<\/a> \u2014 leaving the baby\u2019s citizenship unclear.<\/p>\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.caribbean-airlines.com\/#\/caribbean-experience\/media-releases\/804\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">press release<\/a>, the airline noted that the passenger gave birth on flight BW005 on April 4, en route from Kingston, Jamaica, to New York City just before noon.<\/p>\n<p>The mother and newborn were attended to by medical personnel upon arrival at John F. Kennedy International Airport.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><button class=\"button button--modal-trigger\" aria-label=\"Open the image in a modal.\" data-modal-image=\"39014866\"><br \/>\n\t<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"icon-plus\" fill=\"#fff\" viewbox=\"0 0 1033 1000\" width=\"1em\" height=\"1em\"><path d=\"M380 364V0h273v355h380v290H653v355H380V645H0V355h380v9z\"\/><\/svg><br \/>\n<\/button><br \/>\n<figcaption>A passenger traveling on Caribbean Airlines from Jamaica to New York gave birth as the flight was landing. <span class=\"credit\">Nicolas Economou\/NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThe airline commends the professionalism and measured response of its crew, who managed the situation in accordance with established procedures, ensuring the safety and comfort of all onboard,\u201d the airline said. \u201cCaribbean Airlines also confirms that no emergency was declared during the flight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In air traffic controller audio <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/newyork\/news\/women-gives-birth-on-caribbean-airlines-flight-jamaica-to-new-york-city\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">obtained by CBS News<\/a>, a ground controller quipped that the child should be named \u201cKennedy\u201d after the airport the flight landed at.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Caribbean Airlines allows pregnant passengers to fly without medical clearance up to the end of the 32nd week of pregnancy, but does not accept passengers after the 35th week, according to their website.<\/p>\n<p>A situation like this is extremely rare, with 74 infants born on 73 commercial flights, of whom 71 survived delivery, between 1929 and 2018, according to\u00a0a March 2020 study by the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/31180493\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">National Library of Medicine<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><button class=\"button button--modal-trigger\" aria-label=\"Open the image in a modal.\" data-modal-image=\"39014867\"><br \/>\n\t<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"icon-plus\" fill=\"#fff\" viewbox=\"0 0 1033 1000\" width=\"1em\" height=\"1em\"><path d=\"M380 364V0h273v355h380v290H653v355H380V645H0V355h380v9z\"\/><\/svg><br \/>\n<\/button><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.35270806;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39014867\" width=\"798\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/125161412.jpg?w=1024\" alt=\"Aerial view of John F. Kennedy International Airport, with terminals, concourses, many airplanes, and an air traffic control tower.\" class=\"wp-image-39014867\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/125161412.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 3949w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/125161412.jpg?resize=300,222&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 300w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/125161412.jpg?resize=768,568&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 768w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/125161412.jpg?resize=1024,757&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/125161412.jpg?resize=1536,1135&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/125161412.jpg?resize=2048,1514&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 2048w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/125161412.jpg?resize=600,444&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 600w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/125161412.jpg?resize=797,589&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 797w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/125161412.jpg?resize=671,496&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 671w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/125161412.jpg?resize=576,426&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 576w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/125161412.jpg?resize=440,325&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 440w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/125161412.jpg?resize=382,282&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 382w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/125161412.jpg?resize=180,133&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 180w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/125161412.jpg?resize=96,71&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 96w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/125161412.jpg?resize=54,40&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 54w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/125161412.jpg?resize=95,70&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 95w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/125161412.jpg?resize=73,54&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 73w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/125161412.jpg?resize=200,148&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 200w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/125161412.jpg?resize=231,171&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 231w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/125161412.jpg?resize=322,238&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 322w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/125161412.jpg?resize=597,441&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 597w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/125161412.jpg?resize=81,60&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 81w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/125161412.jpg?resize=108,80&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 108w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/125161412.jpg?resize=1200,887&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 1200w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/125161412.jpg?resize=78,58&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 78w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/125161412.jpg?resize=211,156&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 211w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/125161412.jpg?resize=50,37&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 50w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/125161412.jpg?resize=150,111&amp;quality=75&amp;strip=all 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 798px) 100vw, 798px\"\/><figcaption>The baby\u2019s citizenship could depend on who controls the airspace, experts say. <span class=\"credit\">Nate Hovee \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>However, the birth brings up some legal questions regarding the baby\u2019s citizenship status.<\/p>\n<p>Law by Mike said in a YouTube video, noting that, depending on the country, the baby\u2019s citizenship could depend on the airspace or parental nationality.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow the big question is\u2026 is that baby a US citizen?\u201d Brad Bernstein, an immigration lawyer, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/shorts\/uFYtyqPJElw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said in a video on his YouTube page<\/a>. \u201cHere\u2019s the answer \u2014 depends on one thing: Where exactly that plane was in the sky at the moment of birth?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bernstein explained that if the baby was born in US airspace, then the child is automatically a US citizen under the 14th Amendment and State Department regulations.<\/p>\n<p>However, if the baby were born \u201ceven a few minutes earlier outside of the United States airspace,\u201d they wouldn\u2019t be a US citizen.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/04\/07\/lifestyle\/baby-born-on-a-plane-has-no-country-experts-say\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A passenger traveling on Caribbean Airlines from Jamaica to New York went into labor and gave birth as the flight was landing \u2014 leaving the baby\u2019s&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44003,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/44003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}