Jason Michael Cruz, was on an escalator in Terminal 7 Thursday when a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officer overheard him tell a friend he "had the wrong kind of bomb" just after 1 pm.
She reported the conversation to her supervisor, Robert Haddok, who sent officers to a security checkpoint to question the pair, the New York Post reported.
Officials ushered Cruz and his friend, Matthew Okumoto, to a holding area, where they learned the pair was talking about a sandwich called 'The Bomb', airport officials said.
The TSA agent who reported the bomb comment explained that she had only caught a snippet of the conversation, and the pair was then released.
TSA officers held the pair until airport cops arrived, causing Cruz to miss his Los Angeles-bound flight.