Influencer Hugh Lovett Turned A Plane Safety Demo Into A Joke, And It Backfired Spectacularly

We all know influencers do the darndest things. You really can’t take them anywhere. Give them a boarding pass, an audience, and a phone to capture the whole thing, and even a routine flight can turn into a spectacle.

So it shouldn’t come as a shock that another one has landed in trouble after pulling a prank on a plane. Hugh Lovett, one of the four brothers behind the Australian social media group The Lovetts, may have pushed his luck a little too far with the plane’s safety equipment. What he apparently thought was “a bit of fun” ended with a police escort and a ban from two airlines.

In a video that’s since gone viral on Instagram, Lovett is seated next to his brother Blake on Jetstar flight JQ768 from Sydney to Adelaide on October 16 as the pre-recorded safety demonstration explains how to use the plane’s life jacket. Lovett is wearing the bright yellow vest, and just as passengers are told not to inflate it until they’ve left the aircraft, he pulls the cord. Sure enough, it balloons around him while Blake covers his face in disbelief. The brothers later captioned the clip with a joke about how you’re apparently not supposed to copy the demo.

Speaking to Yahoo News Australia, Lovett said the crew had been clear about the rule, adding: “I just don’t listen very well.”

He said other passengers immediately turned to look at him, and that’s when he realized he’d made a mistake. Cabin crew came over to ask why he’d set off the jacket, and after he asked how to pack it away, he was moved to another seat with an unused life jacket and allowed to finish the flight.

But his troubles didn’t end when the wheels touched down.

“At the end of the flight, I was the last one to get off, and I was walking towards the front of the plane, the pilot sort of asked who it was. I put my hand up, and he said, ‘You’re gonna come this way,’ and just led me straight to the police,” Lovett explained.

As seen in the video, he was then escorted by Australian Federal Police (AFP) officers at Adelaide Airport. Lovett said the officers went over what had happened, made sure he wouldn’t do it again, and explained what could have gone wrong.

The AFP confirmed that officers spoke to a passenger after a life jacket was inflated on a domestic flight into Adelaide, and said, “Inquiries remain ongoing and further comment will be provided at an appropriate time.” No charges have been publicly announced.

Lovett told Yahoo News Australia he received an email the following Wednesday telling him he’d been banned from flying with Jetstar and Qantas. Neither airline has publicly confirmed how long the ban will remain in place, but a Jetstar spokesperson confirmed the no-fly ban in a statement to 7NEWS.

“Customers are required by law to follow crew safety instructions at all times and must not remove or tamper with safety equipment, unless instructed to do so,” the spokesperson said.

“We have zero tolerance for behaviour that puts the safety of our customers and crew at risk.”

Lovett might’ve thought he was “just having a bit of fun,” but there’s a practical reason for the rules around airline safety equipment and the “zero tolerance” for those who don’t follow them.

An inflated vest inside the cabin restricts movement and can slow an evacuation. In a water landing, this can be deadly.

In November 1996, hijacked Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 ran out of fuel and ditched off Grande Comore in the Comoros. Many passengers survived the impact, but those who had inflated their life jackets inside the cabin were pinned against the ceiling as water rushed in, causing them to drown. Of the 175 people on board, 125 lost their lives. According to Jake Hardiman, writing for Simple Flying, it’s arguably the most famous example of what can happen when passengers ignore the instruction.

But even without an emergency, tampering with a vest pre-flight causes problems. Justin Brownjohn, senior manager at RMIT Aviation Academy, told Yahoo News Australia that aircraft must carry a life jacket for every passenger, so a seat can’t be occupied if its vest has been tampered with. That’s why Lovett had to move, and why a full flight could have been a much bigger headache.

Brownjohn also explained that interfering with safety equipment could attract fines of up to 50 penalty units under the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations. “The cost of replacing a lifejacket is not great, but the disruption to a flight, particularly if it results in the cancellation of a flight, can easily run into the tens of thousands of dollars, or hundreds of thousands if multiple flights are impacted,” he said.

Lovett now admits the stunt was a bad idea. He said he never thought inflating a life jacket would lead to a ban, but hopes his experience will stop others from trying it, and promised it won’t happen again.

Then again, influencers don’t seem to be great at taking notes. Earlier this year, Colombian creator Yeferson Cossio was banned from Avianca for a year after setting off a stinkball on a transatlantic flight.

So yeah, it turns out you really can’t take some influencers anywhere—and, at least for now, Jetstar and Qantas won’t be taking Lovett anywhere at all.