Posted at 11:46 a.m., Monday, March 4, 2002
Hawaiian flights delayed in LAX scare
Advertiser Staff and Wire Services
LOS ANGELES Security screeners at Los Angeles International Airport noticed a suspicious package early today, prompting the evacuation of hundreds of travelers. A source said the item turned out to be a fake grenade intended as a joke gift.The bomb squad was called and one person was taken into custody, said Tom Winfrey, spokesman for Los Angeles World Airports. No other information was immediately available from police.
Screeners spotted the suspicious item in a box as it passed through a scanning machine for departing passengers, Winfrey said. An upper-level ticketing area between two terminals was evacuated, but the lower level remained open.
A government official in Washington said the screener spotted the outline of a grenade inside a gift package in a bag. The grenade was a fake a gag gift, the official said. The passenger involved was being questioned.
Hours after the 5:45 a.m. evacuation, hundreds of passengers remained stranded outside Terminals 2 and 3, waiting for ticketing and flights to resume.
Some departing flights were delayed. The affected terminals serve Alaska, American, Horizon, TWA, Air China, Air Canada, Hawaiian Airlines and Northwest airlines, among others.
Two Hawaiian flights to Honolulu were delayed, said company spokesman Keoni Wagner.
Flight No. 1, which normally leaves Los Angeles at 8:50 a.m., was delayed 2 hours and 38 minutes, he said. Flight No. 3, which originates in Las Vegas with a stop at LAX, was delayed about 40 minutes, Wagner said.
