031. I was born on a plane so I can fly anywhere for free

Hi friends. My name is Sky. I'm 17. I've never had to pay to fly somewhere on a plane. And I'll never have to. I can fly to any place in the world for free. How am I able to do that? You will find out when you hear my story. When my mom was pregnant with me, my parents were living in Africa because my dad was working there. My mom wanted to give birth in her home country. She decided to go back home a month before her due date. My dad would take some time off from work and join her there two weeks later. You might not know this but the airline companies have a rule. You can't get on a plane if you're over 36 weeks pregnant. My mom 35 weeks, or 8 months pregnant at the time, so she was able to get on her flight without any issues. The plane took off at 6am. 

At first everything was going smoothly. At some point my mom went to the restroom. There she realized that she had some light bleeding. Of course, she panicked. She got out of the restroom and told a flight attendant about it. There were no signs of her going into labor yet but my mom was really worried that something might happen to the baby, that is to me. The chief flight attendant made an announcement, just in case. "One of our passengers is 8 months pregnant. She is having some issues. Is anyone here a doctor or a nurse?" She asked. When no one answered, they figured there was no health worker on board. Soon enough, their fears came true. My mom called the chief flight attendant and told her the contractions had started. That meant that she would soon be going into labor. So I had decided to come into this world a month earlier. Thankfully, the flight crew training included instructions on what to do in circumstances such as this one. They started to prepare in accordance with their instructions right away. You know, at the front part of the plane is the first class section. It's the most luxurious section of the plane and passengers pay a lot of money to sit there. One of the most important features of the first class seats is that they can recline up to 180 degrees. That means each seat over there can be turned into a bed. Even though there were some signs, it wasn't quite certain that labor was about to begin. But the cabin crew still had to take some precautions. They cleared the First Class section, transferring those passengers to the other part of the plane. Some of them made a fuss about it but they had no choice because those were the rules. Then they reclined one of the seats and laid my mother down. 

After a while, the captain came over. "We are currently above the ocean. We will be able to land in five hours. There are no health professionals on board. I know it's not up to you. But it would be great if you could hang on until we land," he said. My mom smiled. "I might be able to hang on but I don't think the little girl inside can do it because she is incredibly active right now. If you ask me, she will soon want to come out," she said. As it happened, in less than an hour, my mom's water broke. Which was the most important sign that labor had begun. The flight attendants were rushing back and forth to and from First Class. One of the passengers got worried that something was wrong with the plane. She called a flight attendant and asked what was going on. The attendant told her that a passenger was about to give birth at the front of the plane. She asked, "Is there a doctor with her?" When she was told that there wasn't, she said, "Take me to her. I'm a gynecologist." Apparently, she was sleeping when the announcement was made. That's why she didn't know about it. This, of course, was a great surprise but do you know what the real miracle was? This doctor was volunteering in Africa, teaching people in rural areas how to help women go through labor without medical supplies. Needless to say, this was exactly what my mom needed at that moment. When the doctor introduced herself, my mom couldn't hold back her tears. Because she was so scared something might happen to the baby, that is, to me. She was really relieved to hear that there was a medical specialist on board. 

After examining my mom briefly, the doctor announced that labor had begun. Just like in the movies, she asked the cabin crew for stuff like hot water and a hot towel. I don't know why these are needed during labor but if any of you do, please let me know in the comments. I was born exactly two minutes later, as the plane was flying at thirty thousand feet. My mom always tells me, "You never made me suffer during labor. I just pushed once and there you were." The flight crew was deeply relieved when they found out that there were no complications during my birth. The captain made another announcement letting everyone know about it. "We have a new passenger on board. Congratulations to both the baby and her mom," he said. Everybody was so happy. They clapped and cheered for a long time. The cabin crew offered champagne to the passengers. Even though I was born five weeks early, I was a pretty healthy baby. My mom wanted to name me after the doctor but the doctor said, "Can I confess something? I never liked my own name," and asked if my mom would name me "Sky" instead. When the plane landed, there was an ambulance waiting for me and my mom. They immediately took us to the hospital. 

After a series of tests, they saw that there was nothing wrong with us. Since I was born on a plane rather than in a hospital, it was the Civil Aviation Authority that gave me my birth certificate. The certificate says "Born aboard a plane at thirty thousand feet" as the place of birth. But my current passport says, "Place of Birth: The Ocean." Because a plane birth is very rare and it doesn't exist as an official category. So how come I can now fly around for free? It's time to tell you that part of the story. First of all, let me break it to you: It's not true that people born aboard a plane get a lifetime pass for free flights. That's a myth. In the past, some airline companies did give presents to babies born on their planes. But these consisted of a limited number of tickets. As far as I know, no one else was given unlimited lifetime flight pass other than me. You may ask, "What's so special about you?" It's just luck, really. This man you see on the screen is the general manager of the company that owns the plane on which I was born. He is an incredibly nice person. He calls me on my birthday every year without exception. This lovely general manager and his wife weren't able to conceive for a long time. They were going through treatments for years but nothing was working. 

Thankfully, his wife finally got pregnant. The rest is really interesting. This woman and my mom gave birth at the same time, down to the minute. So their daughter was born in the hospital and me on the plane at the same moment. The man was very moved by this when he found out. "It can't be just a coincidence that a baby was born aboard one of our planes at the exact same time as my daughter. This is definitely a small miracle. I can't just ignore that. I want to give the baby from the plane a lifetime flight pass. But they decided to keep it a secret to prevent it from becoming part of the company policy. Otherwise, they would have to give the same present for every in-flight birth. If you noticed, I didn't say the name of the airline because they made me sign a non disclosure agreement. You're probably curious about how much I've been taking advantage of this incredible opportunity. It wasn't much use to me when I was younger. I wasn't able to travel on my own at that age. I had to be accompanied by at least one of my parents. Since they didn't have access to free tickets, they had to pay for flights. However, since last year, I've started to fly by myself. And this has completely changed my life. We played a game to make my first solo flight unforgettable. My mom got me a globe. They blindfolded me. My dad spun the globe. And I stopped it by putting my finger on a random spot. Obviously, I was so curious to see what I chose. When I opened my eyes, I was thrilled. The spot I pointed to was Denmark. And this was one of the countries I wanted to see the most. This is how I ended up flying to Copenhagen on the first free flight I took on my own. So far, apart from Copenhagen, I've only been able to travel by myself once more. That was a domestic flight. I went to visit my grandmother for her 75th birthday and came back the same night. It made me so happy to be able to make my grandmother's day. I'm already planning the trips I'm going to take in the future. I made a list of places I want to see the most. 

Of course, it's only my flight that is free. I have to pay for everything else. I need to have some money in my pocket even if I'm staying at the cheapest places possible. This is why I'm always saving part of my allowance. Next year, I will go to Japan. If I have any money left, I also want to go to Cuba. Every birth story is special but mine is truly amazing. I wanted to share it because I thought you might find it interesting. I hope you liked it. Thanks for listening to me. If you like stories like this, you can subscribe to this channel now. That way you will know when new videos come out. Bye.