Agreed. I couldn’t function without GE. It has literally saved me thousands of $ in time savings. Once it’s revoked you are banned from re-applying.
Pro tip: you do not have to go to your home airport for the GE interview. Look for a cheap flight to a smaller airport like Tucson for open times. My wife scheduled her appt for 8am on a Sat over New Years while we were there visiting family and we were in/out of there in about 5 mins.
Potential contagion is a serious thing, the woman was careless, and the agent was a dick about it.
The moral of the story is make sure to throw away any food or drink before exiting the plane whether they forewarn you or not.
An assault charge, and whatever other charges they decide to pile on, just for good measure.
Not worth it.
There are signs in the USA, but having been to to NZ and AUS, I can attest they are nowhere near as prominent. Does NZ still have those nice amnesty bins for any contraband? Fruit, drugs, weapons. I’ve always thought that was well done.
HI has amnesty bins for fruit and vegetable products, right before you leave the airport building proper. We’re in the same boat as CA; a good chunk of our income derives from exported fruits and we really don’t want to import any pests, KTHXBYE.
Damnation.
Yes they do. Plus the people you deal with are pleasant and professional, so if you have questions they will answer them and help you.
My experience in the US (even as a white, middle-aged, professional guy with Global Entry) is that questions asked to Customs or Immigration are met with rudeness, buck passing, or even outright hostility.
Back in my less-responsible traveling days - when I lived in Vermont and traveled to Montreal at least monthly, our trick was to take our dogs with us. Agents et so caught up with rabies certs, registration tags, microchips, etc. That they totally miss or forget to ask about the cases of beer, cheeses, etc.
You have to remember you are generally not dealing with high-IQ individuals when interacting with CBP or other DHS employees.
A friend of mine used to say that you should treat cops, border guards and similar people like you would bears - don’t antagonize or challenge them, make yourself small, back away slowly when possible, and minimize any interactions with them. Seems like as good an approach as any
Coming back from vacation, I remember seeing signage EVERYWHERE; including a fun one that mocked travelers’ exasperation with having to go through another checkpoint, especially for produce. (“Yes, you do have to go through this AGAIN.”)
I was there last month dropping my G/F off for a flight. I walked with her towards the (completely empty) security lines and got yelled at by three different people that I had to stay behind the barriers. I moved over where I was told and then got yelled at for a) rolling my eyes at them, b) not standing far enough behind the barriers, and c) being rude when I pointed out how asinine this all was.
I felt like I was back in grade school, and I wasn’t even traveling
A lot of the coverage (including the headline here) takes pains to point out that the apple that was unlawfully imported was acquired by the perp at no charge to her.
What possible relevance could that have? Dumb headline is dumb.
The amount of damage caused to our agricultural industry by invasive species is tremendous. It’s easier to bring a machine gun packed in marijuana into California than a bag of oranges.
Aye, a quick google search will return pages upon pages of people arrested for spitting in cops’ food. Spit in their face and they’d probably beat the daylights out of the spitter. A customs agent is perhaps less trained to use excessive violence, but the cops they’ll call to arrest the spitter aren’t.
Europeans - an invasive species in North America since 1492, I’m given to understand.
I was stressing this to my kid just the other day because of something she saw online; spitting on someone is assault, as is any form of unwanted/unsolicited physical contact.
When dealing with ‘officers of the got-damned law,’ or any authority figure who has any power over you whatsoever, NEVER TOUCH THEM.
And since cops can legally murder someone if they claim they were afraid, they’re entirely likely to use any bodily fluids as an excuse to do so on the grounds the fluid could carry disease.
A cop may well murder a civilian (especially but not necessarily only a civilian of color) for doing nothing at all, but maximizing the chances to live long enough to sue is safer.
If more white people understood this, they might understand what cops really are.
After a red-eye, when my son was still a toddler, we were going through customs in Vancouver on the way out of the airport. We weren’t thinking after a sleepless 6 hours on the plane. When he started saying he was hungry, we just handed him a banana. The customs agent told us we couldn’t do that and took the banana away. No fines, but he could have given us one. This guy was not an asshole.
I wonder how easy it would be to get people outraged in the other direction by framing this story about an entitled one-percenter who lied on her customs declaration form, ignored multiple signs, lied to the agent when asked if she had any fruit with her, and then became outraged when she had to pay a fine.
This is not really an outrageous story (in either direction). It’s like getting hit with a parking ticket even though you were only there for a minute. I hope this story raises awareness of the seriousness of agricultural contamination rather than outrage at the high fines or the the inspector for doing his job.
Why stop there in your counterfactual speculation? Why not make her an evil reptillian alien who was a professional smuggler specialising in bodysnatcher pods? And let’s make the customs inspector the reincarnation of Fred Rogers. That’ll get the BoingBoing crowd thinking!
Do you consider cracking mean-spirited jokes and being an inflexible arsehole in response to what was clearly a first-time error (as opposed to a deliberate lie or smuggling attempt or repeat offense) part of a customs inspector’s official job description?
Agricultural contamination is a very serious problem, but there’s a way to handle these things professionally and proportionately. As others have mentioned, countries that truly take this issue seriously (e.g New Zealand, Australia) train their border guards appropriately.
This. So much this. A single fungi spore or bug with eggs can wreak outright habit on both industry and the environment. Where I live, global warming has contributed to wildfires, but forests full of dead trees thanks to Norwegian Pine Beetles serve as perfect fuel.
Now, Delta should have made it perfectly clear that all fresh fruit or vegetables must be declared or consumed on the plane, and maybe they failed at that. Or maybe she decided it didn’t matter. Or that an apple somehow “shouldn’t count”.
If you declare it, or at least answer honestly when asked. There is a reason they ask that before they dig into your bag. That’s your last chance to avoid something like this. But if you fail to declare it on your customs form, they have the right to pull this. Most will give you that second chance to jog your memory about the snack you threw in at the last second. Failure to admit or remember, and it will be treated as an attempt at smuggling. You, as a traveller are supposed to know what is in your luggage.
No, an apple is not an atomic bomb. Potentially, it is far more dangerous.
