Later in the article it says
The flight was delayed for 10 minutes. After security questioned the men, they were allowed onto the plane.
so at least there's that. Although...
The flight home, however, was not so comfortable as suspicious passengers asked him to open the small box he was carrying.
“People kept asking me, ‘What’s in that box?!’” he told NBC. “So I shared my baklava with them.”
Sigh.
I hope if I were on the flight I'd have the stones to say I was uncomfortable with the original intolerant passenger on the flight and ask to have them removed.