A passenger's joke about explosives in his luggage has forced the authorities at Los Angeles International Airport to evacuate a terminal.

A man on Southwest Airlines flight 1182 from El Paso, Texas, made the comment Sunday afternoon at about 2 p.m., prompting Airport police to shut down the Airways terminal resulting in flight cancellation of about least 450 passengers and more than 1,800 passengers had flights delayed.

Airport spokesman Albert Rodriguez said a police bomb squad found no weapons or explosives when they searched the man and his luggage.

The passenger is in custody and under interrogation by federal authorities.

Operations returned to normal at about 4 p.m., Rodriguez said.