Officials at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport halted the departure of airplanes, shut down terminal subway service and stopped screening passengers for about an hour this morning after a man made it through security without being properly checked.

A little after 11 a.m., the order went out to "freeze the airport," said spokesman Bob Parker. Airport security was able to find the man, who had gone through the north checkpoint. They determined the man was not a threat and that the security breach was the result of "honest confusion between the screeners and the subject," Parker said.

The airport returned to normal operations just after noon, "but some of the lines at the checkpoints are pretty long, so there's still some impact from this," he said.