300 passengers had to be diverted on a Chicago to Japan flight after the plane sprang a leak just after take-off.

US Air Force Staff Sergeant, Bartek Bachleda, who was a passenger on the plane, noticed the leak and tried to alert a flight attendant, but at first she didn’t believe him.

It wasn’t until Bachleda took a video of the leak that the attendant took him seriously and alerted the pilot.

The captain and his crew had been trying to work out how the aircraft was loosing 6,000 lbs of fuel an hour, and later admitted to the heroic passenger that they would never have made it to Japan.

The un-named airline thanked Bachleda and his companion by giving them free first class seats on the next flight.