Man Detained for Questioning at LAX
US Airways Flight Diverted to Vegas
AP

LOS ANGELES, March 6, 2007 - A US Airways jet bound for Philadelphia was diverted to Las Vegas on Tuesday because a man who was supposed to have boarded at Los Angeles International Airport was detained during security screening but his bag was already on the jet, authorities said.
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Flight 1422, with 143 passengers and six crew members, landed at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas about 8:30 a.m.

The Airbus A320 was searched in a secure area away from terminals and cleared about noon to continue to Philadelphia, said Chris Jones, an airport spokesman. Passengers were given options to resume their flight aboard the jet, stay in Las Vegas or return to Los Angeles, he said.

The man was stopped at a security screening checkpoint at Terminal One - which houses US Airways, America West and Southwest Airlines - shortly after 5:30 a.m.

He was carrying a "suspicious item" that was seized, said Nico Melendez of the federal Transportation Security Administration.

He did not identify the item, but the police bomb squad was called in as a precaution, officials said.

The terminal remained open and no takeoffs or landings were disrupted, airport officials said.

The man's bag had been security-screened and was on the flight that left Los Angeles about 6:40 a.m., US Airways spokeswoman Liz Landau said.

Standard policy in such situations requires that planes be stopped and searched, she said.

"They are deplaning, and they're going to re-screen all the bags before we get under way again," she said.

No Southwest flights were affected, spokeswoman Whitney Eichinger said.

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