Woman is fined $500 by customs officials for carrying an APPLE
 

Woman is fined $500 by customs officials for carrying an APPLE that was given to her for free by a Delta flight crew member.

Arvada woman trying to stomach $500 fine for free airline snack | FOX31 Denver

She has Global Entry, considered a trusted traveller to know and obey the rules. Claiming ignorance or forgetfulness doesn’t cut it as a trusted traveller. And blaming Delta because they shouldn’t have given her the apple that she neglected to declare? :rolleyes: This whole culture of blaming others when one gets caught at something makes me crazy. Here’s a novel idea - how about adults (with Global Entry no less) taking responsibility for their actions?

OFFS!!! Seriously?? This is an OBVIOUS example of abuse of power by a customs agent. This is absurd and I certainly hope she wins her appeal this insanity.

Seriously. Give me a break. They ask you if you have any fruits. Clearly she lied and said no.
It's not rocket science.

really? You can't imagine forgetting that you threw an apple in your bag? Or thinking that what they mean by produce is, like, you are trying to import a bunch of produce, not an apple??

My sister went to the thorough searching at DFW customs when she put a banana on her bag that the airline gave to her lap child. Her plan was to feed it during the layover, which ended up being much longer after missing the flight from through searching. It was a dog that found out the banana. Glad that there was no fine for the mistake. Yes, she admits it was her mistake not declaring fruit unlike this lady who blames everyone around but herself. She wrote the customs form in flight before receiving the banana (It was pre-kiosk era).

I don’t get your outrage. The very definition of Trusted Traveler is that you know and obey the rules. In return, you generally are subject to less scrutiny because you are trusted not to forget and to know that an apple must be declared. If she doesn’t know that an apple is a fruit and doesn’t know that fruits and vegetables must be declared and doesn’t know that you don’t lie on your declaration or ‘forget’ that you have items that must be declared, then she shouldn’t have Global Entry. She is held to a higher standard than the average traveler in return for faster processing and less scrutiny.

Everyone makes mistakes, myself included.

Some mistakes have consequences clearly laid out in global entry documents we sign.....

a customs agent following the rules is not an "outrage" or "over-reach". If you get some leeway, or a "pass" from a customs agent that's great, but you're not entitled to a free pass.

There's a long thread in the security forum about such events. There seems to be a lot of agent discretion, and experiences run the gamut.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trus...y-revoked.html

This is super common in New Zealand. Seems silly that the airlines give out fruits towards the end of flights, though. US customs is a lot more forgiving than other countries.

She wasn't fined for carrying an apple. She was fined for not declaring an apple.

She didn't forget it. She says she was saving it for later. She lied, and then got caught on a random search.

Sucks to face consequences when you break laws. She now also blames Delta because they gave her the apple and didn't warn her not to lie about it.

And the very definition of insanity is being fined $500 for an apple, especially when it is very clear that agents have some discretion on the matter. A ban on importing agricultural goods is important to protect our crops, etc. That does not mean that an agent can't also be a reasonable and thinking person. Even if bringing the apple was fully intentional, and not a mistake, I still think $500 is crazy and frankly just wrong.

She didn't get fined for an apple. She got fined for lying on her customs form/kiosk.

You have to declare even snacks that you brought with you on the trip. Its simply, just say you have food and your luggage gets scanned. I did it once with Stroopwaffels. Its not that hard to not lie.

Seriously? We're talking about an apple people!!!! Lying? If she had a suitcase full of apples or other produce that would be one thing. What I am so irritated about is the obvious overreaction by the overzealous agent.