American Notes CALIFORNIA

United Airlines Flight 35 to San Francisco was half an hour late taking off from Newark last Wednesday when a woman passenger kept herself locked in a rest room in spite of entreaties to come out. She finally emerged, said she was ill and returned to her seat. She left a lavatory so spattered with blood (from diarrhea, flight attendants assumed) that it was closed off for the six-hour trip.

After the plane landed, a cabin cleaner heard a muffled cry from a cabinet beneath the sink. There, covered with paper towels, was a newborn girl, umbilical cord still attached. The 8-lb. 9-oz. infant appeared to be suffering from hypothermia but otherwise seemed healthy. After the mother, Christina LoCasto, 24, of Staten Island, N.Y., turned herself in, authorities charged her with child endangerment. The 5-ft. 7-in., 155-lb. woman had not appeared pregnant to flight attendants, and even her husband says he was unaware of her condition.