Air passenger desperate for cigarette

A drunken French tourist with a fear of flying tried to open an Australia-bound jet passenger door in mid-flight to have a cigarette, a Brisbane court was told.

Sadrine Helene Sellies, 34, was placed on a good behaviour bond after pleading guilty in the Brisbane Magistrate's Court yesterday to endangering the safety of an aircraft.

Sellies was seen walking towards one of the aircraft's emergency exits with an unlit cigarette and a lighter in her hand and began tampering with the door before a flight attendant intervened