"Suspicious bag prompts early morning Sky Harbor evacuation"

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Suspicious bag prompts early morning Sky Harbor evacuation
By Teana Wagner
The Arizona Republic


A suspicious piece of luggage found at Sky Harbor's Terminal 2 caused
passengers to be re-screened early Thursday.

About 150 passengers at a Terminal 2 concourse were re-screened under
standard procedure after the Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
found a suspicious bag at 4:30 a.m.

TSA swept the checkpoint, and at about 5:45 a.m., all passengers beyond the
checkpoint were re-screened. 

One Continental flight holding about 150 people was also unloaded and
re-screened. 

"Terminal evacuations are a last resort and only ordered out of an abundance
of caution," said TSA spokesman Nico Melendez. 

"We regret any inconvenience this may have caused travelers and will look
into what led to this incident and take the necessary steps to prevent it
from happening again," he said.

Four flights apiece from Continental and United were delayed, but no
passengers missed their flights, according to Sky Harbor officials.

A Continental flight was the longest flight delayed; passengers waited 90
minutes.

United flights to Los Angeles and Denver were delayed 30 minutes.

Within hours, airport screening was back to normal.

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