ADAM Saleh, who describes himself as a “professional idiot”, made headlines this morning for claiming he squeezed into a tiny suitcase and illegally flew in the baggage hold from Melbourne to Sydney.

The video, posted on YouTube, shows Mr Saleh’s mates zipping him into a suitcase with a video camera. He can be heard saying: “I am so scared, I don’t know if I’m going to survive”.

But Melbourne Airport security footage proves the stunt was a hoax. In a still image released to news.com.au, the 23-year-old can be seen boarding the flight with his friends.

Tigerair wasted no time slamming the popular American vlogger.

“There are a few little inconsistencies in your production that don’t line up with reality,” a spokesperson wrote in an open letter on Mr Saleh’s social media channels.

AFTER THE SUITCASE: See Adam Saleh’s latest prank

The Youtube clip shows Mr Saleh’s friends getting out of a taxi and wheeling him to the automated check-in area. The bag is overweight, so they pay a fee and it disappears down the conveyor belt.

At the other end, his mates appear to collect him from the baggage carousel, and he climbed out of the suitcase in front of a crowd of bemused passengers.

Tigerair pointed out the automated bag drop machines only take a maximum of 32kg per piece — not a 66kg bag concealing a fully grown man.

“Anything over 32kg gets rejects and our friendly staff would have stepped in to assist with options, as indeed they did. We have the footage,” it said.

Second, while some aircraft has heated baggage holds for transporting pets or live cargo, this jet was not one of them.

The video shows Mr Saleh sweating profusely inside the suitcase, which wouldn’t have been possible given the temperature at 36,000 feet drops as low as minus 56C.

“Had you been in the baggage hold, by the time you arrived in Sydney you would have been a popsicle,” they retorted.

Mr Saleh’s manager, Naz Rahman, told news.com.au it was just a bit of fun.

“It’s all for entertainment, that’s all it was. We didn’t realise it would be all in the news. He did everything abiding to the law and everything,” he said.

“He didn’t literally get on the plane. If he did, he’d be dead. It’s a trend on YouTube, a lot of youngsters are putting themselves in boxes and in suitcases, and pretending to send themselves different places.

“We’re like bloody hell, are we in some sort of trouble?”

“While this video is clearly a publicity stunt, it promotes behaviours that are dangerous and life threatening,” Melbourne Airport told news.com.au.

“Airport safety and security are serious matters, and not appropriate targets for humour.”

Mr Saleh, Mr Rahman and the third man in the video have been in Australia for about a week making videos and holidaying.

The 11-minute clip, published on Tuesday, has almost 320,000 views.