Cheap Beijing Flights With a Dangerous Catch

Re:Cheap Beijing Flights With a Dangerous Catch by madeofpalk on Sunday August 06, 2017 @06:06AM (#14940690)

> An Apple from Sydney to Perth

Wait, what? There's no screening or security on domestic arrivals in Australia. There's no customs. There's no signage warning about this. This is the first I've ever heard of this and I have trouble believing this.

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Re:Cheap Beijing Flights With a Dangerous Catch by zanchey on Sunday August 06, 2017 @06:34AM (#14940757)

There is quarantine, though:

http://www.interstatequarantine.org.au/travellers/interstate...

Driving or flying to or from WA, you will see inspectors and dogs.

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Re:Cheap Beijing Flights With a Dangerous Catch by madeofpalk on Sunday August 06, 2017 @06:45AM (#14940780)

Huh that's so interesting. I've done plenty of flying along Eastern Australia so I never had a reason to presume there was anything more over in WA.

Thanks.

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Re:Cheap Beijing Flights With a Dangerous Catch by TheSpiceIsLife on Sunday August 06, 2017 @08:26AM (#14941024)

I live in Launceston Tasmania, there's a fruit bin on the way in to the airport from the tarmac. Nearly every time I've been to the airport here there is a Beagle getting about on the luggage carousel.

Now that I think about it, that dog might not be there entirely for fruit. There was a bit of a spate of people bringing ice (meth-amphetamine) in through checked baggage a couple years ago. Who does that?

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Re:Cheap Beijing Flights With a Dangerous Catch by will_hughes on Sunday August 06, 2017 @11:09AM (#14941590)

Unfortunately the beagles are mostly gone from Hobart airport. There's just the one now, I'm told, and s/he wasn't on duty last I flew down. Family that fly through there regularly all say they havnt seen it on duty much either.

This made my paranoid checking of whether my chosen brand of fruit-oil containing shower gel would be permitted kind of redundant.

For somewhere there's not supposed to be fruit fly, we sure saw a lot of fruit flies.

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Re:Cheap Beijing Flights With a Dangerous Catch by jsjohnst on Sunday August 06, 2017 @09:14AM (#14941158)

Beagles usually are used for smelling foods (vegetables and meats), not drugs.

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Re:Cheap Beijing Flights With a Dangerous Catch by caf on Sunday August 06, 2017 @07:29AM (#14940882)

Every eastern state airport I've ever seen has fruit bins at the gate or on the airbridge, and there is frequently an on-board announcement near TOD that some states prohibit bringing in fruit.

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Re:Cheap Beijing Flights With a Dangerous Catch by SyneRyder on Sunday August 06, 2017 @12:30PM (#14941950)

there is frequently an on-board announcement near TOD that some states prohibit bringing in fruit

Yup, was about to mention this. I did Sydney to Perth a couple of weeks ago & Qantas made that announcement close to landing. In particular, they mention not to bring honey into Western Australia, and to talk to a flight attendant if you were carrying honey.

I do remember seeing signage (somewhere) in Perth on arrival, but I don't remember seeing any disposal bins.

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Re:Cheap Beijing Flights With a Dangerous Catch by madeofpalk on Sunday August 06, 2017 @08:38AM (#14941054)

They 100% don't have disposal bins at Sydney T3, nor do I remember them at Melbourne or Brisbane. I've spent a lot of time in that airport, sometimes without even flying and I've never seen anything other than just regular bins and the "oops I forgot this bottle of water" before security.

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Re:Cheap Beijing Flights With a Dangerous Catch by will_hughes on Sunday August 06, 2017 @11:12AM (#14941607)

Water and liquids are permitted through security on domestic flights from domestic airport terminals. No reason to dump your bottle of water.

http://travelsecure.infrastructure.gov.au/onboard/liquids-ae...

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Re:Cheap Beijing Flights With a Dangerous Catch by NamTaf on Sunday August 06, 2017 @10:41AM (#14941490)

There's similar if you go north of Brisbane. Turns out, having a ridiculously sparse population is also a good defence against the spread of plant diseases.

There's actually signs somewhere north of BNE telling truckies that they can't take bananas past that point, for example.

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Re:Cheap Beijing Flights With a Dangerous Catch by mcguire on Sunday August 06, 2017 @10:50AM (#14941519)

Does California still have the agricultural prohibitions? I can remember the fruit fly traffic inspections in the '70s.

I've also been sniffed by a Dept. of Agriculture beagle coming back from Puerto Rico.

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Re:Cheap Beijing Flights With a Dangerous Catch by vinay427 on Sunday August 06, 2017 @11:17AM (#14941622)

I-10 from AZ still has an inspection station that seemed to wave through most passenger vehicles.

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Re:Cheap Beijing Flights With a Dangerous Catch by sl4i6j3o4i98g on Sunday August 06, 2017 @11:55AM (#14941783)

Same in South Australia, mostly to prevent the spread of Fruit Fly (confined to eastern part of Australia). WA and SA rely economically on fruit plantations, so the noxious fruit fly could cause grave damage to local economies.

Don't travel with fruit in Australia, its the height of selfishness.

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Re:Cheap Beijing Flights With a Dangerous Catch by callahad on Sunday August 06, 2017 @06:21AM (#14940723)

Can't speak for Perth, but flights into Tasmania absolutely go through another round of biosecurity screening.

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Re:Cheap Beijing Flights With a Dangerous Catch by wfunction on Sunday August 06, 2017 @05:36AM (#14940611)

What in the world? Why is this?

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Re:Cheap Beijing Flights With a Dangerous Catch by jpatokal on Sunday August 06, 2017 @05:44AM (#14940630)

Western Australia is separated from farms in the rest of the country by ~1000 km of desert, meaning there are various pests in the rest of the country that they don't want to see introduced, and thus enforce strict quarantine measures: https://www.agric.wa.gov.au/importing-animals/quarantine-wa-...

FWIW, California also has agricultural quarantine measures, they're just much more half-assed.

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Re:Cheap Beijing Flights With a Dangerous Catch by fapjacks on Sunday August 06, 2017 @05:54AM (#14940655)

Hawaii does not play around with its own agricultural (et al) quarantines. Every time you fly into the state, you must declare items on a special state checklist, for exactly the same reasons.

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Re:Cheap Beijing Flights With a Dangerous Catch by goatforce5 on Sunday August 06, 2017 @09:12AM (#14941155)

Hawaii also (?) checks for agricultural products when you leave the islands:

http://www.govisithawaii.com/2009/07/16/be-prepared-for-agri...

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Re:Cheap Beijing Flights With a Dangerous Catch by atbentley on Sunday August 06, 2017 @05:47AM (#14940640)

Australia is an island so it has a fairly unique biodiversity. For international flights bringing in fruits is a concern since it can introduce pests that don't otherwise exist in Australia.

Australia is also a very large island, and the biodiversity of the east coast is very different to that of the west coast, so the same concerns apply. If you drive along the highways between states you'll see signs telling you to dispose of your fruit.

http://www.interstatequarantine.org.au/

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Re:Cheap Beijing Flights With a Dangerous Catch by 2muchcoffeeman on Sunday August 06, 2017 @05:53AM (#14940651)

We take protecting our agriculture very seriously. You don't want an outbreak of something in one state to spread to another.

It kinda makes sense. We're so isolated geographically, when something happens in other parts of the world, we have a very good chance of protecting ourselves.

I believe Australia actually has the oldest vineyards in the world. Something took out the vineyards everywhere else in the world.

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Re:Cheap Beijing Flights With a Dangerous Catch by rangibaby on Sunday August 06, 2017 @05:44AM (#14940629)

Diseases in one part of the country could spread to another. Australia and NZ have strict biosecurity because their isolation means they missed out on a lot of diseases that affect produce and animals in other parts of the world.

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Re:Cheap Beijing Flights With a Dangerous Catch by jomar on Sunday August 06, 2017 @05:45AM (#14940631)

Because there are crop diseases endemic in one part of the country that aren't present in another. Try searching for "Nevada California fruit" if that's closer to home.

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Re:Cheap Beijing Flights With a Dangerous Catch by ClassyJacket on Sunday August 06, 2017 @09:47AM (#14941286)

Fruit flies.

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