luvwelly

On my last flight, I discovered in the luggage hall that one of my kids had brought a bottle of water off the plane with him which had been given to him on the plane...wasn't sure whether this was ok or not...(had to dump water etc at UK end so assumed probably not) so I dumped it in the bin in full view of airport staff.

Fining tourists who have done it innocently must leave a very bad taste...an awful lot for that 'Kiwi hospitality' to have to make up ground for.

londonescapee

It's really not clear what you can keep and what you have to bin. We got so worried about it we chucked some beautiful honey we'd bought for my MiL only to be told that it would have been fine because it was sealed! Ah well....

nelsonpom

Disagree with most of you, NZ for whatever reasons are very very strict on what you can or cannot bring in, if you are visiting or moving to a country find out whhat your allowed to bring with you. Surely that is just basic common sense. An apple here is valium in Malaysia, no sympathy at all and if your in doubt tell them what your worried about. We havn't been sure about lots of things (cat food, chocolates, snacks,fruits and treats) so we asked and got replies each time. There are so many signs coming in here that ......

nelsonpom

Why didn't you ask ?

bourbon-biscuit

You lot are harsh!

I feel for the OP's friend- after that long flight it's really easy to forget about an apple or whatever. Given it's clearly not a deliberate attempt to breach biosecurity why can't they have a $50 fine? We've had the beagle sniff out an apple on us before and we just had it removed from us. $400 is mental.

shirl

I couldn't agree more. Makes it worse when you don't read English really well either. Jobsworths!

shirl

Cause after 30 hours of travelling you have to actually remember that you have not eaten your little apple in the bottom of your bag when you are totalling disorientated flying through all the times zones and speaking German. It's a shame there are not signs in all languages! It is such an easy mistake to make! Like the OP said it should be everyone gets fined a set amount or no one gets fined, not just random on how you feel on the day or else my poor wheat bag teddy would have cost me $400 instead of zilch. It is like saying oh I have woken up to day feeling shitty so lets pick on the apple people shall we! He had gone from Dresden to Berlin, Berlin to Singapore, to Sydney, to Christchurch - nightmare flight and the apple was imported from NZ in the first place!

Genesis

[QUOTE= and the apple was imported from NZ in the first place![/QUOTE]




That is ironic. But I guess on the way it could have caught avian flu, regular flu, chimmney flu, swine flu, been contaminated with anthrax et al.

Jan n Neil

I work at the Port and the MAF people are paranoid about anything getting in it costs millions to clear up, but i cant see why he just wasn,t allowed to bin the apple it does seem a little harsh

Neil

Gill and Rob

Don't forget you also have to tick off and sign the MAF card declaring what you have brough it etc.

Gill

cally49

Same thing happened to my son and his wife coming back fromt he UK with theit one yr old who had a week of being violently ill they were knackered to put it lightly and had totally forgotten they had an apple in their bag fine was $250 (this was 3yrs ago) but to be honest i tht it was a bit stink and so did they i have seen all sorts of food items confiscated with just a warning on those border control programs i think to be honest it depends maybe on who you get at the border and what sort of mood they are in as to what happens which should not be the case.

Myself i came back from the Uk and the sniffer dog picked on me and wouldnt leave my bag alone the handler said have you had any fruit in your bag i said nope nothing and then remembered later that 2 weeks earlier i had indeed put a banana in my handbag to take to a course for my lunch i was amazed to see that picked up after 2 weeks they sure are smart dogs...
So yes i feel sorry for your friend maybe they should tell people at a checkpoint to check their bags for any food items they may have forgotten about it sounds a buit like revenue gathering to me a bit like the road traffic police maybe they are on some sort of quota lol...

Expat Kiwi

They're not consistent that's for sure. I too brought in a wheat bag teddy and they agonised over it for a while, talking about empying out the wheat and giving me back the teddy. Once they'd satisfied that the wheat was unlikely to be genetically modified they were ok with it - provided that when the time came to dispose of it it was burned and not sent to landfill.

It does look like it depends very much on who you get on the day.

Expat Kiwi

As you say other countries are very strict too, I've heard of people in the Middle East getting pulled up for having poppy seeds from bread rolls on their clothing and for carrying melatonin for jet lag.

cleverchap

Perhaps the scale of the fine is wether you have written/signed your customs decleration or not.

If you haven't signed it and you're caught = slap on the wrist

If you have signed it and you're caught = big fine, because you are trying to smuggle stuff in (in the eye's of the law)



Also it may depend of where the beagle sniffs you out.
I have been sniffed a few times at baggage collection which is way before the bio security zones so plenty of time to dispose of any fruit in the bins provided.

shirl

Yes providing you understand the language in its entirety! Wonder how we would get on if we had to sign and declare stuff in German! Lots of words are lost in translation! Like what time do you stand up in the morning rather than what time do you get up in the morning lol!!!!