LAX Terminal Shut Down in Suitcase Scare

The discovery of an unattended suitcase Sunday led to the partial evacuation of the Tom Bradley International Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport, bringing a temporary halt to an otherwise smooth day for holiday travelers.

Police cordoned off the lower level of the Bradley terminal--where friends and relatives greet arriving passengers--for two hours early Sunday afternoon.

A bomb squad was called to the scene, only to discover that the suitcase contained men’s clothing, airport spokesman Harold Johnson said.

The bag was then sent to the airport’s lost-and-found office.

Johnson said he did not know how many people were evacuated from the building, but he said incoming and outgoing flights were not affected.

Sunday’s evacuation is not the first since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Cleon Richmond, a retired teacher from Riverside, arrived to pick up a friend from Belgrade, Yugoslavia, but couldn’t get near the terminal.

“I wasn’t worried,” said Richmond, who spent 45 minutes at a Starbucks two terminals over. “But what a tremendous inconvenience.”

As it turned out, his friend’s flight was delayed by more than an hour, unrelated to the evacuation.

LAX officials expected 140,000 people to pass through the airport Sunday, with most flights 95% full. Johnson said airport traffic is down 20% compared with the same time last year due to flight cutbacks imposed by the airlines.

Most passengers said they were surprised by how smoothly traffic flowed around the airport. Nine days ago, the airport began allowing curbside drop-offs for passengers, which had been barred since Sept. 11.

Kathleen and James Liuzzi of Corona found the traffic easy going.

“It was a breeze getting in here,” Kathleen Liuzzi said.

But Sunday’s evacuation forced the couple and four of their children to wait for about two hours outside the Bradley terminal for their daughter, who was on her way back from a semester studying abroad in Florence, Italy.

“You can’t help but wonder if there’s something real happening when people are walking around with their guns out,” James Liuzzi said.

The quick response was reassuring, he added, but “it’s unfortunate they have to do it.”