An “abusive” Jetstar passenger who attempted to open the emergency exit door was restrained by an off-duty police officer during a “nightmare” flight to Australia on Monday (31 March).

Flight JQ-34 from Denpasar Ngurah Rai International Airport to Melbourne was forced to return to Bali when an unidentified female passenger lifted the handle of a cabin door, triggering an alarm on the Airbus aircraft.

A fellow passenger shared on Instagram: “Just got off our Jetstar flight from Bali to home. Two hours in, a lady tried opening the emergency door because she wanted to get off mid-air.

“Absolutely nightmare. Had to turn around and land back in Bali for her to get arrested. 260 angry and scared passengers. Police escorted her off plane.”

In a clip from the cabin, the captain told passengers: “A lady down the back of the aircraft that tried to physically open the door and lifted the handle. We got a door warning at the front of the aircraft… the safest course of action was to come back here and return to land.”

Australian reality star Brooke Jowett wrote on social media: “Two hours into our flight, flight attendants start running, people start freaking out and we get told to put our seatbelts on immediately.”

She added in an Instagram story that a fight between the woman and Jetstar staff had escalated “because she wanted to sit in a different row and have a chair that could recline”.

The Australian Survivor contestant said: “One of the guys who was sitting in front of us was down near the toilets and he pulled her away from the door as she was trying to open it.

“He was an off-duty police officer so he saved the day, thank god for that.”

Data from FlightAware shows that the aircraft departed Denpasar at 8.29pm local time, before making a U-turn over the Indian Ocean around an hour into the journey.

According to the airline, the passenger was removed from the aircraft by the local authorities in Bali.

Jetstar said in a statement: “We had an aircraft return to Denpasar last night after a disruptive passenger attempted to open one of the aircraft doors and was abusive to our crew.

“The safety and welfare of our customers and crew is our top priority and we thank them for the way they responded to the situation.

“This sort of unacceptable behaviour will never be tolerated on our flights.”

The airline added that customers travelling on the cancelled journey had been provided with an alternative flight.

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