Plane turns around after mom onboard realizes she left her baby in the terminal

There are not many situations that are going to make a plane do a U-turn and head back to the airport — but apparently a passenger forgetting her baby is one of them.

That was the situation for a Kuala Lumpur-bound flight, which headed back to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, when a frantic passenger told the crew that she had accidentally left her baby in the boarding area of the terminal, according to local publication Gulf News.

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A subsequent conversation between the Saudia Airlines pilot and air traffic control, which was uploaded to YouTube, has since gone viral.

“May God be with us. Can we come back or what?” the pilot can be heard saying over the radio.

“This flight is requesting to come back … a passenger forgot her baby in the waiting area, the poor thing,” someone can be heard saying.

Seemingly struggling to believe the request, staffers asked the pilot to explain the scenario one more time for good measure.

“We told you, a passenger left her baby in the terminal and refuses to continue the flight,” the pilot replied.

The Saudia flight bound for Kuala Lumpur eventually returned to the airport in Jeddah. (Photo: Getty Images)
The Saudia flight bound for Kuala Lumpur eventually returned to the airport in Jeddah. (Photo: Getty Images)

Describing it as “a totally new one for us,” air traffic control granted the flight permission to return.

While the distressed mother was reunited with her child, there are mixed reports as to how the baby was left behind in the first place.

Twitter user Fahad M. Al Barrak, who shared the original audio of the incident, said the baby had been left with its sister, who boarded the wrong bus at the terminal.

When the mother realized the pair hadn’t made the flight, she insisted the plane turn round, Al Barrak said.

Yahoo has contacted Saudia for comment.

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