You get a bit of a dose of cosmic radiation while flying. It won’t turn your baby into the Thing or give them the ability to catch on fire or turn invisible, but it could still damage the baby at a vital stage of their development.
I don’t buy that explanation. Why would that dose of radiation be more harmful to a more developed fetus?
The crew just doesn’t want to deal with a mother spontaneously giving birth, and the airline doesn’t want to deal with the paperwork of taking off with n passengers and landing with n+1. And no-one wants to find out the nationality of a baby born over the Atlantic.
Correct. As a father of four and who moved across an ocean when one of them was six months in utero it has more to do with concerns that changes in air pressure might induce early labor.
Edit: I realize this post reads like I abandoned my family when one of my kids was six months away from being born. I didn’t. But it’s a funny enough mistake that I’m not changing it.
That’s not it at all. It’s mostly the acceleration and turbulence that can potentially damage the fetus, the same reason they shouldn’t ride rollercoasters.
In the US it depends on the airline. We went on a babymoon vacation when my partner was 30-something weeks and didn’t need to provide any documentation (Alaska Airlines). She did run it by her providers first, but that wasn’t an airline/TSA/FAA requirement.
How long was the flight though? Were you staying within say… three hours of travel or was it crossing the Pacific or going to like…Florida…which are both over 7hrs? The flight length and where you’re travelling to can be a factor in whether they ask for documentation or not.
Oooh. Ok. Sorry, when I hear an airline with a specific place name my brain goes to somewhere within that place as one of the ends of the flight. It gives me an anchor point if I’m looking into flight lengths. :)
Regardless, I can see why some airlines have restrictions, especially on certain flight paths. They’re not exactly equipped to handle labour if the pregnancy is high risk or something unexpected goes wrong and there’s an increased chance of early labour later in pregnancy in that situation. (And it’s higher if it’s twins, triplets, etc. You can have multis ‘on time’, but you have a higher chance of going into early labour in that case to begin with.) And if you’re say…halfway across the Pacific or Atlantic you don’t really have a lot of options in any kind of emergency situation. Whereas if the flight is from LA to Toronto you have a lot of places you can land in a situation like that.
It never hurts to discuss and check in with your trusted medical provider(s) at that stage of pregnancy or if you’re in the high risk category (or if you have other non-pregnancy conditions that might put you at an increased risk). Forearmed - with knowledge in this case - is forewarned, right! :)
wtf do you need documentation for? god, fuck everything about flying
You get a bit of a dose of cosmic radiation while flying. It won’t turn your baby into the Thing or give them the ability to catch on fire or turn invisible, but it could still damage the baby at a vital stage of their development.
I don’t buy that explanation. Why would that dose of radiation be more harmful to a more developed fetus?
The crew just doesn’t want to deal with a mother spontaneously giving birth, and the airline doesn’t want to deal with the paperwork of taking off with n passengers and landing with n+1. And no-one wants to find out the nationality of a baby born over the Atlantic.
Correct. As a father of four and who moved across an ocean when one of them was six months in utero it has more to do with concerns that changes in air pressure might induce early labor.
Edit: I realize this post reads like I abandoned my family when one of my kids was six months away from being born. I didn’t. But it’s a funny enough mistake that I’m not changing it.
So how were the cigarettes
Eh. Should’ve got menthols.
That actually sounds incredibly fun, as a law nerd!
after all that drama, an actual answer LOL
but still, fuck everything about flying
Multiple people have given you actual answers that are all a part of it.
Do you thing the airline industry has no experience with this type of situation or something?
Bullshit. The dose is so minimal as to be inconsequential.
That’s not it at all. It’s mostly the acceleration and turbulence that can potentially damage the fetus, the same reason they shouldn’t ride rollercoasters.
Yeah but the cosmic rays tho
I mean have you seen what happened to the fantastic four?
In the US it depends on the airline. We went on a babymoon vacation when my partner was 30-something weeks and didn’t need to provide any documentation (Alaska Airlines). She did run it by her providers first, but that wasn’t an airline/TSA/FAA requirement.
How long was the flight though? Were you staying within say… three hours of travel or was it crossing the Pacific or going to like…Florida…which are both over 7hrs? The flight length and where you’re travelling to can be a factor in whether they ask for documentation or not.
>2000 mile flight. Not crazy long but not short. (The state of Alaska was not involved, just the airline.)
Oooh. Ok. Sorry, when I hear an airline with a specific place name my brain goes to somewhere within that place as one of the ends of the flight. It gives me an anchor point if I’m looking into flight lengths. :)
Regardless, I can see why some airlines have restrictions, especially on certain flight paths. They’re not exactly equipped to handle labour if the pregnancy is high risk or something unexpected goes wrong and there’s an increased chance of early labour later in pregnancy in that situation. (And it’s higher if it’s twins, triplets, etc. You can have multis ‘on time’, but you have a higher chance of going into early labour in that case to begin with.) And if you’re say…halfway across the Pacific or Atlantic you don’t really have a lot of options in any kind of emergency situation. Whereas if the flight is from LA to Toronto you have a lot of places you can land in a situation like that.
It never hurts to discuss and check in with your trusted medical provider(s) at that stage of pregnancy or if you’re in the high risk category (or if you have other non-pregnancy conditions that might put you at an increased risk). Forearmed - with knowledge in this case - is forewarned, right! :)