ATLANTA -- A Delta Air Lines flight bound from Greensboro, N.C., to Atlanta was delayed for several hours Monday night after a man who missed the flight in North Carolina allegedly made comments that prompted authorities to halt the plane and search its passengers.

Police detained and questioned Marc Long of Tulsa, Okla., for four hours about the incident at Piedmont Triad International Airport. No injuries were reported. Long, who was on his way home from the semi-annual furniture market in High Point, was not charged in the incident after a search of the plane and airport failed to turn up any explosive device, police said.

The man reportedly asked how he could get on the flight and whether he had to say there was a bomb on board to detain it. The flight was scheduled to leave Greensboro shortly after 7 p.m. It did not arrive in Atlanta until after midnight.

The pilot halted the flight just as it was preparing to leave the terminal, passengers said.

"We were on the plane and they stopped on the runway and told us something happened and they told us someone had made a threat because he had missed the flight," passenger Kelci Flowers said.

Passenger Ray Alyssa Rothman said the pilot told passengers that the plane would not take off because of the man's remarks.

"He started making some comments at the airport terminal (and) as a result his comments led to him making a threat," she said.

The flight was evacuated and passengers were ordered to an airport fire station while the plane was searched.

Said passenger Ed Audi: "They offered us some pizza and kept us there for two hours. Made us reboard and check our luggage. It was unbelievable."

Authorities shut down the North Carolina airport while crews with bomb-sniffing dogs searched the facility.

When asked by a reporter if he learned anything from the incident, Long said, "No, but I believed the officer that arrested me did."

Channel 2 Action News reporter David Bodden contributed to this report.

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David Bodden reports