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Plane turns around after woman forgets baby at airport in real-life 'Home Alone' reenactment
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On the Waterfront, Citizen Kane, Gone With the Wind, Home Alone. In the pantheon of classic cinema that drive at heart of the American condition, Chris Columbus's John Hughes-penned Christmas classic about a middle-class, middle-west suburban white kid forgotten by his stretched-too-thin parents is certainly at or near the top. But while Home Alone is both a certified essential and a valuable reminder for children everywhere that their parents will one day leave them waiting after soccer practice for hours in the dark (literally and metaphorically), it is somewhat less amusing when it plays out in real life, as it did this weekend when Saudi Arabian Airlines Flight SV832 was forced to make an emergency U-turn shortly after take off because a passenger onboard realized they had forgot their baby at the gate. We warn you, this footage might be disturbing for some viewers.
According to Gulf News, the Kuala Lumpur-bound flight, radioed air traffic controllers shortly after takeoff from Jeddah, requesting a return to the gate because a female passenger had forgotten her child in the boarding area and allegedly refused to continue the flight, raising some interesting questions about exactly what was happening with the plastic cutlery on board, but we won't speculate. After some confusion and consideration, all of which was captured in this viral video (albeit in Arabic), the ATC can then be heard saying "Ok, head back to the gate. This is totally a new one for us!" Apparently they don't have Home Alone in Saudi Arabia.
In the end, the flight returned the gate and the woman was reunited with her child, who thankfully hadn't had time to string up paint cans in the vestibule yet. God, what a mess that would have been.