I must report a serious incident involving an apple. It happened upon our arrival in Auckland. My producer had forgotten that she had an apple nestled at the bottom of her hand luggage.

We filled in our customs forms, collected our luggage and went through agriculture control; where they scan luggage looking for fruit and fresh produce. New Zealand, being a relatively remote island nation is blessed in not having many of the pests, diseases and nasties found in the rest of the world, and they don’t want them either! So they take great care to make sure people don’t bring in fresh produce, fruit, meats and the like, with serious consequences for those who transgress.

The apple was discovered, and my producer was hauled off to be questioned and ultimately fined NZ$200 (about $100). Another couple were similarly caught with offending fruit and likewise fined. I am told it is not an uncommon occurrence.

Let me state loudly and clearly I have no problem with the policy and no problem with the fine. She had forgotten about the apple, didn’t check and now had to pay a hefty fine. Agricultural protection is rightly a very serious matter and the New Zealand authorities treated her accordingly.

But I think the authorities could do more to make it clear to arriving passengers what they need to do. Sure, Air New Zealand shows a video before landing, but who ever watches those? And as for the limited warnings on documents and signs – we are so used to reading this bumf we fail to realise when they mean business!

We are used to going from country to country without serious checks, that it becomes commonplace to think, “yes, yes, yes” to the procedures. For instance, U.S. agricultural inspection is limited to the odd dog wandering around the baggage hall. In Britain it borders on a joke. So she simply never really gave it much thought beyond the perfunctory.


Having come off a long flight, crossed the international dateline and being jet-lagged, it is not unreasonable that people make these sorts of mistakes (which is why they have stiff fines to start with). So I would suggest Air New Zealand make the seriousness much clearer and urge passengers to check their hand baggage. Then in the airport they should have bigger signs reading: CHECK NOW – DO YOU HAVE ANY OLD FRUIT IN YOUR HAND LUGGAGE?

And then as you get closer another sign: YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. PLEASE CHECK AGAIN!

I agree the onus is on us to get it right – we should check and check again. And I blame my colleague, not the authorities, for getting it wrong. But in the tourism business, you don’t want your guests to feel badly done by. Especially if they are starting a life-long dream holiday

Otherwise all that happens is innocent tourists get fined for silly mistakes, and start their holiday with a very bad taste in the mouth that comes from an expensive apple! (I think Adam and Eve suffered a similar problem.)

What do you think? Am I being too harsh?

Quest@cnn.com

It is now Friday, and I am in Auckland, New Zealand. Not a huge amount happened in LA, besides the usual fuss and hoopla that comes of being in California, so it’s best to move swiftly onto the more interesting part of the trip – the long trek down to New Zealand.

Air New Zealand flew us across the Pacific (miles going into my UA account – amazingly the miles are already showing up in there – all the alliances now seem to have got their act together for crediting miles; Oneworld, Skyteam and Star are pretty good at making sure miles are in the account within a few days).

But back to flight NZ5, Los Angeles (LAX) to Auckland (AKL).

Some passengers are clearly more considerate than others. Take Clint Taylor (left) and his party. They brought with them home-baked chocolate raisin cookies for the crew, which were generously shared with other passengers in Business Premiere. The picture shows Mr. Taylor in his suite with one of the flight attendants and the aforementioned cookies!

Not that Air New Zealand (ANZ) didn’t provide enough food, but I thought it was a wonderfully generous gesture by a passenger. Indeed it was the first time I had heard of passengers bringing presents for the crew. Apparently it happens quite a lot on Air New Zealand. A telling reminder to the rest of us…

So, although I didn’t bring along cookies or truffles (as yet another passenger had) I thought as my own little mark of thanks, I’d introduce you to Debby (left), one of the flight attendants who made the 12 hour 10 minute crossing so pleasant. I think you will agree, since all airlines fly the same metal tubes, serve roughly the same food and drinks, it is the crew that make all the difference. And in ANZ’s case, they are the jewels in the crown.

Happily, in my meetings with Rob Fyfe, the Air New Zealand CEO, he realises that his staff are his greatest asset. For a small, niche carrier like ANZ it is important to differentiate themselves from the larger clutter - especially from Qantas (QF) flying across the Tasman Sea - and their on-board crew is one way they can do that.

Oh yes, Sleepy was with me. ANZ haven’t agreed yet to enrol him in their frequent flyer programme. C’mon ANZ, where’s Sleepy’s membership card?

Would you ever take presents for the flight crew?

Quest@cnn.com

Just a quick late note. It's Monday night and I am about to board NZ5 to Auckland. I will lose Tuesday, arriving on Wednesday morning. I am regretting raising the dratted per diem question. Now someone will suggest I don't get a daily rate because I lose a day crossing the date line. I have rather shot myself in the foot with this one!
Will write more on Thursday from Auckland.

Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld

It’s the weekend, but that hasn’t put a stop to my travels. Saturday night and I am en route from Atlanta where I have been filming, to Los Angeles.

But first let me tell you about something that happened on my flight from Singapore to New York (alright, Newark, NJ, but you know what I mean).

A fellow passenger brought to my attention that the guy in the last row, at the back of the plane, was watching DVDs that, frankly, were not suitable for family viewing.

Well, I had to investigate myself. And sure enough movies of a blue nature were being watched in that row which he had to himself it must be said.

Not that you could see that clearly, since the DVD player was turned away, so you had to shimmy round the side of the plane, crane your neck and then twist a bit to get a good look.

Which reminded me of the joke about the old woman who calls the police because the neighbours across the street are “up to it” and she can see all from her bathroom! “Madam,” says the policeman looking out of the window, “I can’t see anything.” “Of course you can’t” she retorts, “You have to stand on the toilet and lean outside to get a proper view!”

So – what would you do if the passenger in the front row to you was watching blue movies? Assuming there are no children nearby would you ask them to stop?

And now a quick update on other matters that have arisen so far.

Last week I wondered how long it would take for SQ to credit my miles my UA account. Well, Singapore have done the business: less than a week after the flights and both journeys are sparkling on my Mileage Plus account.

At a time when so many alliances members are slow to credit flights, this is impressive. On this point, I have been warned by several airlines that their partners are getting sticky in agreeing to credit missing mileage unless all the paperwork is correct and proper.

It’s never been more important to keep your boarding pass and an e-ticket receipt in case the miles don’t show up in a timely fashion.

One other thing –

In my past two blogs I have referred to Connexion by Boeing, the in-flight internet service. This is being discontinued at the end of the year, despite the fact 17 or so airlines have bought it.

According to Boeing not enough of us are using it to make it commercially viable.

Unfortunately Boeing never made it very easy to use it – lots of application forms, logging in, passwords, etc. I felt I was applying for a mortgage rather than trying to use a wi-fi system.

But that shouldn’t detract from the fact Connexion is a very good idea. On that 16-hour flight it was lovely to have the option to check e-mails, instant message or simply surf sites – no, not those sites!

At the moment Connexion has been made free until the final switch off in December (that is unless someone else comes along and buys the thing – negotiations are believed to be taking place).

So if you are flying on a plane that has the gadgetry to connect – try it before it’s gone!

Now – I am going to Los Angeles for a bit more filming. This time it is for Quest for Art. You can see the results of this next weekend in the show – and for Business Traveller: Connection Around the World, which can be seen next month! (Sorry, forgive the plug).

My Delta 737 from Atlanta is packed. Even though the flight is 4 hours 35 minutes all we have been given is a miserable cheese and cracker snack with a biscuit; refreshment more worthy of a shuttle flight from London to Belfast than a transcon flight in the US.

Have we sunk so low these days in US travel that major carriers can’t even offer a meal on longish haul domestic flights? Or even something to buy? Shame on you Delta!