‘BLOODY BIG PANIC’

Flight Turns Back After Woman’s Attempt to Open Door Over the Ocean

The Bali-Melbourne flight devolved into chaos when a female passenger made a beeline for the cabin door.

A Jetstar flight had to turn around over the Indian Ocean after a woman tried to open the aircraft door at 33,000 feet. Flight JQ-34, from Bali, Indonesia, to Melbourne, Australia, was forced back to the paradise island around an hour into the crossing, data from Flightradar24 shows. “We had an aircraft return to Denpasar [Bali’s airport] last night after a disruptive passenger attempted to open one of the aircraft doors and was abusive to our crew,” the airline said of the incident on Monday night. Crew, aided by an off-duty policeman, subdued the flyer. A video, apparently from the flight, details the pilot’s address to passengers. In it, he says the culprit was a woman. Australian reality TV star Brooke Jowett said she was on the flight, which had over 200 people on board, according to Mail Online. She said in an Instagram video that the drama started “because she wanted a chair that could recline.” Jowett added: “So she decided to try to open the doors, which apparently triggered something to do with the emergency slide and yeah, it was a big, bloody big panic.” The passenger was met by law enforcement back in Bali.