This story would be hilarious if it weren’t for the fact that a small baby was put at risk… We all know flying can be stressful and that can often leave us susceptible to a bout of forgetfulness. But a Saudi mother took that to a whole new level when she accidentally left her baby in the airport terminal and boarded a plane without her child.
The Saudia Airlines flight from Jeddah to Kuala Lumpur even pushed back from its gate at King Abdul Aziz International Airport and was taxiing for takeoff before the passenger realised her massive mistake. The frantic mother immediately told some very surprised flight attendants who in turn contacted the pilots.
The bizarre audio of an exchange between the pilots and the airport control tower has since been leaked on YouTube. “May God be with us. Can we come back or what?” one of the pilots can be heard asking the controller.
Apparently not fully believing what the pilot just said, the controller asks him to confirm the reason for a return to stand before finally relenting and telling the pilot: “Okay, head back to the gate. This is totally a new one for us.”
https://youtu.be/U3t8NYYWMKY
The incident apparently happened over the weekend and the good news is that the child was returned to the mother without incident. Saudia operates a daily flight between Jeddah and Kuala Lumpur on a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.
Mateusz Maszczynski honed his skills as an international flight attendant at the most prominent airline in the Middle East and has been flying ever since... most recently for a well known European airline. Matt is passionate about the aviation industry and has become an expert in passenger experience and human-centric stories. Always keeping an ear close to the ground, Matt's industry insights, analysis and news coverage is frequently relied upon by some of the biggest names in journalism.