A passenger ran across the tarmac at Melbourne Airport and tried to force open the door of a Jetstar plane after he missed his flight on Thursday morning.

The Age was told the man was supposed to catch a 9.30am flight to Adelaide and missed it.

When Jetstar crew broke the bad news to him, witnesses said he lost it, pushing crew at a gate out of the way, running onto the tarmac, up the stairs to the plane before trying to bust open the plane door.

And it wasn't even the right flight. He had tried to board a plane to Sydney.