The drama happened on an All Nippon Airways flight between Tokyo and Houston on Saturday morning.
Two military veterans onboard managed to wrestle the man away from the door and helped crew restrain him. The flight made an emergency landing in Seattle and no-one was injured.
Video footage shot by one of the passengers showed the incident play out nine hours into the flight.
According to a report in The Sun, the man suddenly leapt up and made a lunge for the door handle. While most passengers were asleep, the two ex-military men were awake and prevented a potential tragedy.
One of the heroes was heard to say: “You’re not going to make it to that window.”
He was restrained for more than an hour before the plane landed and waiting police arrested the man.
Airport officials later revealed the man had suffered “a medical episode”.
