Bogus threat sparked by bag fee

A MAN was so enraged over being charged a $50 bag fee at LaGuardia Airport on Saturday, he told an airline employee to keep the bag — and, oh, there’s a bomb in it.

John Park, 70, was checking in at a Spirit Airlines counter in Terminal B around 7 a.m., on his way to visit his brother in Detroit, when he was informed of the fee to check his bag. Park refused to pay, Port Authority cops said.

After arguing with the ticket agent, Park stormed off leaving the bag behind, police said.

When the ticket agent said he couldn’t abandon the bag, Park said there was a bomb inside.

Cops took Park into custody while the NYPD bomb squad was called in to look through his bag, Port Authority police spokesman Joseph Pentangelo said.

Park (photo) brushed off the airport kerfuffle after he was arraigned on a felony charge of making a terrorist threat — and released without bail.

“I’m an Asian. “(We) have different culture, making jokes,” he said outside Queens Criminal Court.

“They just overreacted,” Park added.

Following the bomb threat, flights were diverted from Terminal B and several screening checkpoints and pre-security areas were closed and evacuated for two hours. Travelers were left stuck outside the terminal — and in planes arriving at the airport.

“They told us there was a suspicious package and they had to clear out the terminal so we were sitting on the plane for about an hour,” said Janet Smith-Tolale, 42, who was coming into New York from Atlanta.

“I was going to drive. Then my husband said he found some cheap tickets. Maybe I should’ve driven,” she joked.

The bomb squad confirmed that there were no explosives inside the bag. Checkpoint areas in Terminal B were reopened by about 9:30 a.m.

Although LaGuardia tweeted about “police and the delays, many Airport activity” travelers complained that little or no information was given out during the evacuations, sparking mass confusion.

One woman, who would only identify herself as Evelyn, said she was given multiple stories from flight attendants — each one crazier than the other.

“First they told us it was something with security,” said Evelyn, 61. “(Then) they said they had dogs running through the terminals and that was the reason for the delay. The information came every 15 to 20 minutes.

“Then a couple of people got on their phones and that’s when we heard that a guy in there got into an argument with somebody,” she said. “I was p----d the hell off. You have things to do ... you have a schedule.”