Delta Passenger Fined $500 for apple
 

Hard to feel sympathy as the dec. clearly asks if you are bring in any fruits / vegetables
https://www.cbp.gov/travel/us-citize...laration-form\ Perhaps there needs to be a literacy test.

No sympathy whatsoever.

I’ve declared California oranges when crossing from Canada into the US and they’ve been confiscated.

I have noticed these forms are often handed out to pax mid flight or well before landing.

So it is possible that she is literate and filled the form in good faith and later was given the apple.


As a memory test and without checking what are the other items listed below a) on that link above.

Are apples handed out on aircraft different from normal apples? - cant say that I have ever noticed..

Somewhere tonight there's a US CBP official sleeping soundly in the knowledge that he single-handedly thwarted such an egregious act of Moral Turpitude....

Well, as SLF I've flown many times between NZ and the US. There always seem to be bins with large signs, in both directions, to dispose of fruit, etc. before getting to the gendarmes.

In the US recently, we seem to have spawned a fairly large cohort of folks who truly do NOT believe that 'rules' actually apply to THEM.

The repercussions and ramifications of said belief can be seen everywhere every day.

Had a CBP officer tell me to always check yes on that form, even if just a piece of candy, because those guys over there ( points to agriculture counter) love to fine people. If you check yes then it's declared and they can decide if it's forbidden or not.

I got pulled over with a corporate aircraft entering the US from Canada and was advised by Customs that I had two options with the contraband banana in the aircraft - eat it or surrender it to US Customs. So I ate it and disposed of the peel in the garbage can - which I assume stopped Banana blight or whatever horrifying disease it might carry, from entering the agricultural food supply in Alaska.

Thankfully there are some very practical people out there.

b) must trap a few.


Leather is an animal product so declare shoes, belts, wallets, gloves and bags. Wool and silk are also animal products.

In Australia and New Zealand we have had these rules for generations. They are always strictly enforced, so the travelling public of both nations is conditioned into always being especially careful.

watching the television show "Border Security", one might refute that statement...they catch people on that show all the time with banned substances

As BewareOfTheSharklets says, biosecurity rules are not trivial make-works for bureaucrats. In any region or country that depends on agricultural production, especially fruit, the introduction of a new pest can cost millions--perhaps billions--of dollars. And it's not just air travel: on the roads leading into Victoria in Australia, for tens of kilometres there are huge signs warning of the vegetation quarantine to keep out fruit fly, and the people at the border are serious about it. California is heavily dependent on its fruit and vege production. Perhaps they should publicise their biosecurity rules better, if they often have problems; the cute beagle puppies that ruthlessly find vegetable matter at Auckland Airport do double duty, by detecting and by being adorable about it. Fixes the rules in the mind of the traveler, in a pleasant way.

He didn't say that it was always effective, but it is strictly enforced.
Even state-to-state in Oz.

Isn't that enforcement at work, on TV?

I travelled into the US overland from Canada with a tour group of 12 people last autumn. Our Canadian tour leader was very experienced at taking people into the States. We all had picnic food with us. No problem provided it was 'processed'. Fruit is fine provided it is chopped up in a fruit salad. Tomatoes and meat - again no problem provided it has been sliced into a sandwich etc. Strange that the act of cutting something up makes it safe - but the border authorities were told about all our food and were perfectly happy. Shoes and wallets were never mentioned but they are certainly animal products.

It still took us over 2 hours because our tour leader had made sure we had applied for our ESTA and I94 forms in advance The latter form is normally completed at the border if arriving by air or sea but had just been introduced for advance completion online if arriving overland. Both forms ask where you are staying in the US. Two people had entered addresses which did not match on the two forms. They had a comma on one line of the address on one form which was missing on the other! The computer systems spotted the incompatibility and would not permit entry or editing of the forms. The entire staff of the border point got involved! After 2 hours the problem was resolved by deleting the ESTA and re-entering it to match the I94. Doesn't say much for pre release testing of the software.

I've been an infrequent visitor to the US over the years. I would always avoid a long distance route with a transfer in the US because my experience has invariably been one of difficulties at the border - even before 9/11.

I can remember the times in the 80s when one could just walk or driver over the border and nobody gave a hoot.

A plant I need to visit on business occasionally is about a 90 min drive from YUL, whereas the closest US airport is more like 2.5 hours and doesn't have direct flights from Europe. So flying itnto YUL is a no-brainer, one should think.

The first time I did this, the Canadian customs folks at the airport wouldn't believe I'd fly into Canada to do business in the US, and it took all three US folks at the border post about an hour to process me. I have to admit the land border has gotten a lot better since ESTA. The Canadians still ask a lot more questions than their US counterparts.

Ridiculous
 

They could have easily just told her to throw it away. Its not like she is importing apples of mass destruction. CBP are some of the biggest Aholes on the planet. I had a moron try to fine me 25,000 USD for a STICKER that wasn't on the plane. I had to get his superior involved to point out via email we had a conversation that we would be getting the sticker AFTER we arrived into the great land of the free(absolute BS)

Give some people power and it goes to their heads. The states is a hypocrisy at its finest.

Or, let someone think that they can get away with bringing in restricted goods by not declaring it and they will surely try.
And then what, just let them off scot-free?

In Oz, if Customs think that you've made a genuine mistake then they may generously just issue a written and recorded warning, first time anyway.

Trouble is, more often than not, it is not a genuine mistake. It is an attempt to deceive. A fair portion of the goods sold in Asian (and other exotic) groceries has entered the country in suitcases.

So, sorry. No sympathy.

The inside of Delta Airlines cabin is US territory, is it not. Therefore the apple was given to the pax on US territory. They disembarked onto US territory, so where is the import? :ugh:

No, not quite - Certain US laws apply on board US carriers of course (given the state of registration), but certainly nothing from a customs perspective. Otherwise you'd have to do your customs and border formalities before you boarded, would you not? Saying that an aircraft is "territory" of the state of registration is somewhat of an over simplification.

I always thought, perhaps I'm wrong, that Government worked for us, the people?

The UK Police are on very thin ice these days as they need continuous reminding they can only police by consent, we haven't yet got to a Police state like in the US where citizens can be gunned down without comeback.

But it's a slippery slope, and this Apple thing is a mere micro-example of it..

G

I'm surprised at the hard-heartedness of some of the posts. The woman popped an apple into her bag to eat later. I've done that so many times though I of course had been made aware of international protocols - developed over a working lifetime. This woman was just an ordinary paying passenger, and all that means in law.


Apple taken in trust from a literally qualified staff member who handed it to a client.

Between the routine interactions of the airline with the authorities, I'd say between them, the woman suffered entrapment.

Where was the apple loaded onto the aircraft? i.e., was it grown in the United States and held in a hopefully hygienic container until presented? (That isolation would work both ways.)

Confiscation is one thing, but a $500 fine of an ordinary member of the public is deterrent sentencing. A legal obscenity at the best of times.

Ordinary folk are trusting, forgetful, stressed when flying, they need considderation and basic kindness, not the bullying of some :mad: that can't get a skilled job and gets his kicks by making statements like the one in the report.

Thankfully it was not a Kinder Surprise
 

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/...inder_egg.html

But then again you can find a reasonable agent. When studying computer engineering in Massachussetts I found that waiting to sign out tools to do the labs was a pain. So after the next visit home I brought my own. Big mistake! Stopped at a lonely border crossing and searched, the man said I could not bring tools into the USA. He wouldn't accept the above explanation but after a long conversation he noticed several ham radio antennas on my car and prompted me to say that the tools were to keep my equipment in working order, then he let me through!

Reading the report on the BBC website, it seems the airline was at fault for not saying you could not take airline food off the aeroplane, and the border seems to have been unnecessarily tough about not giving the passenger the chance to dump the apple. In Aust and NZ, there are very prominent bins with reminders about the laws.

Leather goods are a red herring, since they are so heavily processed that there is no chance that they will introduce cattle diseases. Normally, a red herring would be OK, because processed, but you should still declare it.

According to Woman 'fined $500 over free Delta Air Lines flight apple' - BBC News


When you put all that together this really does seem ridiculous, and Delta should have warned their passengers too.

EDIT: Just beaten by previous post!

Is $500 some written down standard or just at the whim of this particular agent? If the latter then I would challenge it and demand a breakdown of how the amount was arrived at. God forbid if she'd had 3 apples and need a remortgage.

‘Jobsworth’! The fine was not natural justice IMHO.

With Australian customs, the biggest factor is concealment. If you are obviously hiding an item they will throw the book at you. You can declare anything and if it it’s prohibited they will dispose of it without fining you, but you must declare.

I’ve bought in honey and cheese from New Zealand without problems after ticking the box on the form but these items wouldn’t be allowed if they came from India.

True story, many years ago clearing customs in KFLL (Fort Lauderdale) with a private GA aircraft arriving from Canada.
In the galley was a wicker basket with whole fruit that was standard on the aircraft. Customs advised that the fruit would need to be destroyed, "no problem" we said and Customs took it and advised we were cleared into the U.S.
As we closed up the aircraft other pilot realizes we need the wicker basket back so goes in to see about it.
Upon entering the customs office he observes 5-6 customs agents destroying the fruit (eating it) he asked if we could have the basket back which they agreed to with somewhat embarrassed looks on their faces.
Can't make this stuff up.

Cheers
MB

Mistakes can easily happen. I recently fell foul of security at a UK airport. In my haversack they (found by scanning the bag) a very small bottle of hand sanitiser. It was under the base flap of the bag, which is only secured on one edge so the bag folds up when not in use. I had no idea it was there. It was allowed to be taken on the flight because it was below 100ml, but it should have been in the mandatory plastic bag. I had even collected a couple of plastic bags from the stand prior to checking in, in case we needed them later. The last time the bag was in use my daughter had borrowed it for a long distance walking expedition (Nijmegen Marches, last summer). I accepted the bollocking and apologised.

Yes some harsh replies here. Whilst the bottom line is that it was her responsibility to know the rules, not all pax are as seasoned as others, and theres some lack of care to be handing out banned items to customers.

I'm thinking of the man who was arrested in Dubai because he had poppy seeds on his clothing from a bagle.

I was once in the queue at LAX customs off a BA flight. There was an elderly English couple in front of me, possibly on their first visit to the US from the sounds of it. As it turns out they had packed their own lunchboxes for the flight, and on arriving at customs the guy quite politely told them that they could not bring fruit in, that they would have to throw it away or eat it. (No fine, sensible solution) So they did. The amusing part was that as i passed them they were also frantically eating their cheese sandwiches, their crisps and chocolate bars, I didnt have the heart to tell them... :)

I'm surprised at the fuss here. The rule has been there as long as I can remember. Infrequent fliers have asked me about fruit they got on board and saved and I told them its best to leave it, that if they catch it there is a nasty penalty, and it doesn't matter that you got the food on the plane. I forgot to warm some relatives I was escorting on a trip - they had bought some doggie treats in Paris. I'm through customs waiting for the group and one of them, a 14 year old, came through crying saying her mommy was taken off by the police. Searched, found the doggie treats, confiscated and given a warning. From my experience this happens so frequently I'm surprised at the storm it has created although I admit everyone I know who has been stopped has gotten by with confiscation and a warning. Unless information has recently changed, it specifically states foodstuffs so clothing would of course be exempt. Hundreds of international flights and I admit that getting into the USA is the toughest I have experienced outside of Russia and Australia (I've never enjoyed being sprayed down with insecticide).

Reminds me of arriving, crew only, at Las Vegas from Spain. Customs officer at the customs shack, asks, “ where’s the caterer?” I replied, “we’re done and going to the Mandalay Bay, they have food.” It didn’t look amused. “You have to have the caterer take the international trash and food”. “Really, you don’t have a dumpster?” “no, that’s why the caterer is supposed to meet your flight.” Thirty minutes and $255 later our international trash was gone and we taxied over to Signature.


GF

Last time I entered the US, there were large billboards stating it was illegal to carry any fruit past this point. How much more do they need?

But it's typical that instead of learning the lesson, one goes on TV today and generates a scandal, combined with a lawsuit.

Passengers often enough get away with much too much these days, I suppose mostly due to the everpresent threat of lawsuits and spreading dirt all over the internet. Whether it's 23kgs of luggage and 6 kgs of handluggage which to many travellers translate to 50 kgs and 25 kgs respectively, whether there are big scandals when someone falls afoul of some countries harsh punishment on drug trafficking or whether people are too stupid to reckognize that fruits in any form are no-go in the US, the rules are for others.

If they were enforced properly, I guess for a while half of the airplanes would be empty when all passengers not obeying the elementary rules would be left behind or fined.

A few years ago, while driving back from Las Vegas to LA, we came across what we initially thought were tollbooths at the Nevada/California border. I was trying to figure out why we had missed them going the other way four days earlier when the charming agent (just kidding) in the booth asked if we had any fruit or veg in the car. I said no and he waved us through.
As we pulled away my wife asked me what I had done with the oranges I had bought at the farmers market in Santa Monica before heading to Vegas earlier that week.

Gulp!
:eek:

I quite agree :ok:

If I get caught speeding I don't call the news services and make a big deal out how easy it is to miss the posted speed limit signs and then blame the car dealer for selling me the car without a warning.

Same for me. In Vancouver, because it's pre-cleared US. At which point i realised that the apple and orange i had planned to eat in YVR (I was connecting) were now a problem. So i told the customs guy, who looked a bit exasperated and sent me into the "agriculture" penalty box. Where my apple was deemed to be safe but the orange not. Other than a 5-10 minute wait, no bad things happened and i definitely wasn't $500 lighter afterwards.

All kinds of questions.
 

Was it a non stop flight from Paris? Was the aircraft over the U.S. when she was given the apple? Are they giving away fruit so they don't get dinged for bringing it in to the states? Is Delta therefore aiding and abetting this criminal conduct?