I can guarantee that on any trip I will forget at least one thing. Then I have that “oh flip!” moment of realisation once I’ve already left and resign myself to having to do without or buy a replacement at my destination. But I’m talking about a pair of jandals or an umbrella. These oversights pale in comparison to the mum who recently left her baby at the airport and didn’t realise until the plane had taken off!
Oops!
It requires A LOT to turn a plane around to collect something that you forgot. But, a plane leaving Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport recently did indeed return after a Saudi mother accidentally left her newborn baby at the terminal when she boarded a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight.
After takeoff, the mother realised her mistake. And I know what you’re all thinking at this point …
Turn this plane around!
The mother informed cabin crew of her mistake and refused to continue with the flight. The conversation between the pilot and Air Traffic Control operators has gone viral on social media (snippet below). After figuring out the protocol for such an incident (is there even one?), they told the pilot, “Ok, head back to the gate. This is totally a new one for us!”
The mother was reportedly reunited with her baby. And I really feel sorry for her. Because that stuff will haunt you forever! I once went to pick up my child from kindy and had brought my toddler along too. I was also picking up someone else’s child and got to the end of the kindy driveway before realising that yes, I had two kids with me, but oops, I had left my toddler behind! He was playing with the kindy toys and hadn’t even realised. I NEVER forgot it though!
March 2019
What’s the worst thing you’ve forgotten on a trip? Or, if you’re brave enough to share, have you ever accidentally left your kid somewhere?!
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Written by Julie Scanlon
Julie is Editor for Kidspot NZ and our MVP. Her hobbies include laughing uncontrollably at her own jokes, annoying her family by asking questions about movie plots, and never taking anything too seriously. She speaks a little Spanish and a lot of Yorkshire.
Favourite motto to live by: “It ain’t nothing but a thing”
What a nightmare for the poor mum! So glad to see the airline was so quick to do what they could to reunite baby with mum. Auto-pilot with sleep deprivation is so horrible. Its so easy to make a mistake.
I do find it hard to wonder how you could leave your child behind in any situation – this comes from the point of a parent who hasn’t done it before so I don’t know how it would happen. I could only imagine how the parent would have felt getting on the plane then realising. We have forgotten things like medication or other items left behind.
This must’ve been very hard for the parent. She must be going through a fog…especially if it was a newborn. Some moms do go through post natal depression. I have a tendency to forget things to…my car keys, my phone..etc. My hubby has told me that I will forget my son one day somewhere…but so far have not. Thank God.
Omg that poor woman!! I can’t even imagine how awful that would have been and thank goodness the baby was ok!
That poor mum must have been very sleep deprived, I do recall in those first weeks after having a baby having little panic attacks of ‘Where did I put the baby!?!?!?!’ but they were usually asleep in the bassinet, not at an airport terminal that I had just flown out of… I think that will haunt her for a while now..
I still couldn’t believe this when I heard it I have definately not left my kids behind but have left items of the kids at home like there cuddly or favourite toy which is very easy to do.