Lifejackets

[Scott L.]

As part of my usual paranoid routine when boarding an aircraft and getting ready to fly, I noticed there was no lifejacket under the seat. As the seat was empty next to me and there was a lifejacket present under that seat I thought nothing of it. I did however bring it to the attention of the crew during the degustation service this morning. They went a bit panicky and were extremely nervous about the situation.

My questions.

Is it not normal practice to check for these things before each flight? and
Would it necessarily ground an aircraft (for safety reasons) and delay a flight until a replacement had been sourced?

Cheers
Scott.

[Brenden S]

Yes it is the crew's responsibility to make sure every life jacket is on the aircraft and if not to source a spare. Our F/A's are always calling us up for life jackets and seat belt extensions

[Adam P.]

Now that's something that's always confused me. Why do people pinch aeroplane seat belt extensions????

[Brenden S]

Its more they get lost on the aircraft and then 2 flights later they get found!

[Brendan Lawrence]

Jetstar SOP is that our cabin crew pre-flight checks on a 'cold' aircraft (first flight of the day, aircraft returning from maintenance, or aircraft arrived off back-of-clock flight) includes a physical touch of the lifejacket pouch under every seat to ensure they're present.

Only on the A320 is it a cabin crew responsibility though. On the A321 and A330 the presence of lifejackets are checked by engineering.

We also carry spare adult lifejackets which are stowed with the infant lifejackets on every aircraft, just incase due to human error there is a seat that is missing a lifejacket or they have been stolen at some point throughout the day.

[Steve Crook]

Brendan L can you tell me what a "back-of-clock flight" is please? I haven't heard that term before. Thanks