I’ve never known any pregnant woman who flew on an airplane or at least told me. Please don’t think I’m dumb. I think the answer is “yes, of course they can fly on an airplane”, but I’m just making sure. I know celebrities do it all the time. Maybe it’s not advisable after the 5th month because someone could bump the mother’s stomach or the turbulence of the plane might hurt the baby. I’m asking this because some rides at Disneyland are like an airplane so they say pregnant women can’'t go on those rides. So can pregnant women fly on an airplane?
This is more of a GQ than a MPSIMS, but here’s your answer.
Pregnant women can fly freely until their 24th week or so. They don’t require a doctor’s note. After that, most airlines will allow them to fly, but require a doctor’s certification that they are okay to do so.
One of the reasons for this restriction is that pregnant women are prone to a number of circulatory and respiratory problems. Flying can cause blood clots in anyone; in pregnant women, the risk is increased. A woman’s breathing is already constricted because the baby is starting to take up space meant for her lungs. Again, flying increases the discomfort.
And before anyone accuses me of talking out of my butt, I flew a LOT when I was pregnant.
Robin
I think medically you just wouldn’t want to risk the possibility of delivering a child in the air, so beyond a certain point the airlines would prefer not to risk it.
Related questions: If a child is delivered in the air over international waters, would it be a citizen of the mother’s country? How about if born within the airspace of another nation, would it have dual citizenship?
Also, if born mid flight, would the airline charge the child a pro-rated airfare?
I have a friend who is a little over 8 months pregnant, her doctor advised her not to fly, so she is going to spend 16 hours driving to her destinaion rather than flying there.
It is, of course, vital that no pregnant woman attemt to fly without on anything other than an aeroplane, a pig, for example.
I flew while pregant. In fact, I flew to DisneyWorld in December and my son was born in March so I was around 5 1/2 months.
I experienced no problems whatsoever.
I did sit out any rides at Disney where they stipulated pregnat women should avoid them.
I had a blast. All the walking was great for me and then my beloved and my older son treated me to an afternoon at the spa at the Grand Floridian to be pampered. 
I think the funfair rides which advise pregnant women not to go on them are those rides which have restrictive straps or restraining bars on them, where you get thrown around.
The bar or safety belt could damage the baby if the mother was jolted around.
AFAIK (and I’m just flew back and forth to CA for turkeyday when 7.5 mos pregnant), a “note from your doctor” isn’t actually required by the airline for domestic travel. It may be required as a health certification for international travel (I seem to remember reading that in one of my pregnancy “manuals”).
My Dr. only told me to get up and walk around the plane a couple of times to avoid potential problems with blood clots. We’ll see what he says now about an 8 hour drive to Kansas.
I think the real restriction is just that you don’t want to travel in the last month no matter what - because that kid really could pop at any time.
Granted this was some time ago, but my mom flew while she was pregnant with me - less than two weeks before I was born, in fact. My grandfather had passed away in Germany and she flew over for the funeral.
Lufthansa was very reluctant to let her fly home, but she did have a doctor’s note. She also argued that the stress of thinking she couldn’t go home to her husband and 5-year-old, after dealing with the death of her father, might send her into labor right there in the airport… and they put her on the plane post-haste after that.
I flew overseas when I was roughly 8 weeks before delivery.
I had no problems.
FTR, a flight attendant on board was pregnant and due the same week as me and was scheduled to work for another four weeks, IRC.
My doctor suggested that instead of saying you are 7.5 months pregnant, just say it in weeks, as no one knows what that is anyway.
“Oh, I’m only 93 weeks along…”
<<mind reeling with the thought of having a pregnancy last 1.75 years :eek: >>
I think it advisable to fly IN rather than ON an aircraft
Just saying
I flew in February when I was four months pregnant. At the time, I wasn’t sure if I would be allowed to, so I called the airlines. Domestically, I could fly up to 34 weeks. My international flight restricted it to a max of 30 weeks. (A typical pregnancy is ~40 weeks) My doctor stipulated that I should only fly during the second trimester, but I think that was mostly because I had a high risk pregnancy.
On my flight from LA to Australia, there was a very pregnant-looking woman flying alone with TWO toddlers!!! Can you imagine that hellish trip?
I’d presume the same situation would be applied as for births at sea, that the birth counts as within the country of the ship’s/plane’s registration.
[Nitpick]Women’ can’t fly, pregnant or otherwise, in or on an airplane.[/Nitpick]
My sister flew on commercial airlines into the 8th month of pregnancy with no problem. She did check it out with her doctor first, though.
The FAA regs have nothing to say about pregnancy and flying, so any rules are set by a particular airline. I’d say the two big dangers are 1) bloodclots brought on by immobility (which you can also get by staying in a car too long, so I’m not convinced a 16 car ride is superior to a two-hour flight) and 2) having a baby en route. The risk of the former can be reduced by moving around as much as possible and drinking plenty of fluids (yes, I know - you already feel like you’re peeing every five minutes). As for the later - if it’s an uncomplicated delivery even THAT is not really a problem (aside from the emotions and the mess) since babies don’t need doctors to arrive. The really bad scenario is a delivery gone wrong at 30,000 feet - it will be at least a half an hour before the plane can land from that altitude and in a medical emergency minutes can count. So if you go into labor on a flight say something so if it seems prudent they can start diverting immediately, just in case.
Just “bumping” a pregnant woman’s stomach is not going to hurt the baby. Likewise, the little tyke is quite protected from the jostling of turbulence - you think he isn’t jostled every time Mama takes a step?
The issue becomes “can you get the seatbelt fastened around mommy’s tummy”? Very important that mother be restrained in such a manner as to cause harm to neither her nor the baby in the event of, say, a sudden stop.
With female pilots, the big issue in late pregnancy is “does mommy’s tummy interfere with manipulating the controls”?
I think that’s mostly to avoid lawsuits. In other words, it’s for Disney’s health, not the park patrons. Also, there could be that issue about proper restraint systems for a pregnant woman.
With small airplanes/private aircraft taking on pregnant passengers is at the discretion of the pilot. Same issues of being able to buckle safety restraints apply. If a passenger of mine did go into labor I’d divert immediately to an airport and call ahead for an ambulance to meet us. I have a dim recollection of at least two instances of women going into labor on small planes, and perhaps delivering the child before landing. What a mess that must have been to get out of the upholstery! But I don’t have a cite and I’m all flu-foggy right now. Maybe I’ll try googling later.
Women are often cautioned about unpressurized airplanes because they can get up to 10,000 or 12,000 feet and that could cause problems. However, if you were (hypothetically) on vacation somewhere while pregnant and wanted to take a sight-seeing flight you might ask about maximum altitudes - under 8,000 feet (which is what the commercial airlines are pressurized to) should be OK. Honestly, most sight-seeing flights stay under 5,000 feet, which I think is less than Denver, CO, and pregnant women have entire pregnancies at that altitude with no problem. As I said, ask, or request, the altitude be kept relatively low in that situation.
But there’s nothing about pregnancy being inherently a problem with flying. Women are advised not to expose themselves to low-oxygen environments, but on commercial airlines that’s not an issue. Heck, women in labor with medical emergencies have been airlifted to hospitals on occassion.
Unless you have one on each wing, the extra lift generated on one wing would cause problems for proper control of the aircraft.
Finally found some on-line information on pregnancy and flying, directed mainly at pregnant pilots. FYI
As far as nationality, that depends on the country. The US recognizes any child born of an Amrican parent as a US citizen, provided you do the paperwork. IIRC, being born in an airspace of a country is the same as if on terra ferma…