Baby Boy Born on Southwest Airlines Flight Doing Well

Plane left with 111 passengers but landed with 112.

ByABC News
December 10, 2014, 2:20 AM

— -- Southwest Airlines flight 623 took off with 111 passengers. It landed with 112.

Passengers and crew aboard the flight from San Francisco to Phoenix landed with quite a story after witnessing a birth mid-flight Tuesday.

"I can't think of anything else that's going to top that," said captain John Gordy. "At least not for a while."

A pregnant passenger went into labor shortly after takeoff, according to the airline. Upon hearing the news, Gordy told air traffic control the plane needed to land in Los Angeles.

"It was like Moses parting the waters," he said. "They got all the traffic out of the way."

A doctor and nurse on board helped deliver the baby boy.

"It was amazing," said flight attendant Carri Robinson. "All the passengers were awesome. Everybody was clapping."

Aarti Shahani told ABC News affiliate KNXV that she didn't realize a fellow passenger gave birth until the pilot announced the plane was making an emergency landing.

"One of the flight attendants said everybody should go buy a lottery ticket tonight and I am totally going to do that,” said Shahani.

"It was a really cool thing," another passenger, Ely Alexander, told ABC News station KABC. "Never thought I'd experience that ... It was just amazing that that happened on a plane."

Paramedics met the plane when it landed in Los Angeles. A city fire department spokesman said the mother and her newborn were doing well.

"I suggested to her and the lady next to me - I said, 'let's get even with the Kardashians and call her Southwest,'" said flight attendant Danielle Fite.

The other passengers eventually boarded another plane and arrived in Phoenix on Tuesday afternoon.

ABC News' Mosheh Gains and Clayton Sandell contributed reporting to this story.