Originally Posted by
DLFan2
Perhaps you should watch the video, then. This had nothing to do with lying or thinking they were special. The Customs official said so many times in this video.
The airline (QF, not UA) passed out apples shortly before landing. No doubt the pax had already filled out their customs declarations much earlier during the flight, and they didn't think twice about sticking the apples in their bags if they could not eat them. This was not about one passenger trying to smuggle fruit. This was dozens of passengers on one flight. They just did not think about customs requirements, and since the airline passed out the fruit just before landing, who can be blamed for assuming that it would be fine to take it with them off of the plane. After all, QF was bringing the fruit to NZ whether or not the passengers handled it.
I think that QF is to blame and should compensate those who were fined.
They should have warned the pax not to take the fruit off of the plane.
I suspect the apples were in the "Snack on Q bags" (based on my travels with Qantas) and not passed out just before landing.
Furthermore, when you enter New Zealand, they make it extremely clear that food items must be declared. There are amnesty bins to dump fruit and foodstuffs into, there are signs, and the language is quite clear on the landing cards as well.
Qantas shows a video prior to landing about the importance of making a proper declaration and not bringing fruit into New Zealand (QF 26) or Australia (QF 4/12/94/108/etc).
I've been on these flights and it comes down to personal responsibility.