Jetstar and Qantas have banned an Australian social media personality from flying with their airlines after he deliberately inflated an emergency life jacket during a pre-flight safety demonstration aboard a Jetstar flight from Sydney to Adelaide.
Hugh Lovett, one of the four brothers behind the Australian TikTok account The Lovetts, pulled the inflation cord on his life jacket aboard flight JQ768 on 16 October. The incident was filmed and subsequently shared on social media, showing the vest rapidly inflating as the recorded safety briefing instructed passengers to inflate their life jackets only after leaving the aircraft. The stunt reportedly formed part of content created for the brothers’ social media account.
Australian Federal Police officers met the aircraft after it arrived in Adelaide and escorted Lovett from the aircraft. The Qantas Group subsequently imposed a ban preventing him from travelling on both Qantas and Jetstar services. The duration of the ban has not been disclosed.
A Jetstar spokesperson said passengers are legally required to follow crew safety instructions and must not remove or tamper with emergency equipment unless instructed to do so. The airline added that it has zero tolerance for behaviour that puts passengers or crew at risk.
Emergency life jackets are designed to be inflated only after passengers have exited an aircraft during an evacuation over water. Inflating one inside the cabin can restrict movement, obstruct access to emergency exits and potentially slow the evacuation process. In the event of flooding, the buoyancy of an inflated vest can also make it more difficult for a passenger to move underwater towards an exit.