Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport Terminal 4 has reopened following a huge security alert after a suspicious, unoccupied vehicle was found in a curb lane.
The rental vehicle was later deemed safe after it was discovered on the upper deck of Terminal 4 around 7 a.m. on September 16.
The whole terminal was shut down as a precaution while authorities investigated the vehicle, causing the cancellation of dozens of flights and thousands of passengers left stranded at the airport for more than four hours.
An airport spokesperson said three of the four security checkpoints at the terminal were also closed as a precaution, with the airport Sky Train not dropping passengers off at Terminal 4 during the investigation.
Phoenix Police Sergeant Tommy Thompson also warned that people may hear "loud blasts" while the bomb squad examined the silver Nissan, reported ABC 15.
Although frustrated, passengers described how the situation could have been a lot worse.
"People are surprisingly calm," Dian Squire, one of those forced to wait at the airport for several hours, told AZ Central. "I think a security threat is more manageable in people's mind than a plane delay for other reasons. I bet that's different for people stuck in the terminal itself."
After the car was eventually deemed safe, it was taken away by Alliance Towing owner Richard Polanco Jr, who has been tasked with towing away cars left behind at the airport for nearly a decade.
Polanco told AZ Central he spoke to the driver the car, who told him he only left his car for a few minutes while he ran inside the airport to help his girlfriend check-in.
"He was just bummed out that for something so small—an idiotic mistake he made—turned into such a big deal," Polanco told AZ Central.
Chris Gaastra, one of those forced to reschedule her flights as a result of the disruption, also described her frustration.
"There's nothing I can do about it and I'm just happy that it wasn't a bomb," she said. "Sad the person was that stupid."
The airport later wrote on Twitter: "Operations are returning to normal at Terminal 4. Travelers are encouraged to continue to check their flight status with their airlines."
The man who left the rental, whose name will not be made public by police as he was not arrested, will reportedly only face a parking citation and be fined around $56.
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