Holiday jet passenger tried to open aircraft door at 35,000 feet

A holiday jet was forced to land after a passenger tried to open a door in the plane at an altitude of 35,000 feet, it emerged yesterday. Passengers claimed the man had been drinking and become abusive before making a lunge for one of the doors.

The First Choice Boeing 767 plane, with 257 passengers and 11 crew on board, had flown from Gatwick on Wednesday, and was bound for Cuba. It had to land in Bermuda, where the man was taken away by officials. It is believed he was with a group of seven or eight people and that he was abusive to a passenger outside the group. Reports said he came close to blows.

The captain asked people to stay calm and crew tried to quieten him but as they did so he made a grab for the door.

A First Choice spokeswoman said: "The safety of all our customers and crew is our number-one priority and First Choice Airways operates a zero tolerance policy in regard to abusive or drunken behaviour on our flights. On landing in Bermuda the disruptive passenger was met by airport officials and placed in their custody."

The other passengers stayed overnight in hotels in Bermuda and were flown on to Cuba yesterday.

Air-rage incidents on British planes have more than tripled in recent years. The Civil Aviation Authority received 2,219 reports of disruptive behaviour on flights in 2006-07, compared with 1,359 the previous year. Common causes included drunkenness and lighting up or getting angry when stopped from smoking. Disputes often involved couples' rows, anger over seat allocation and irritation at people reclining seats into personal space. In 42 cases passengers were restrained. Planes were diverted in 14 incidents, and on 19 occasions take-off stopped. Passengers were ordered off planes in 235 cases and police or security attended 345 times.

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