"It's a slap in the face": Justin Trudeau slams Sunwing party flight to Mexico as Quebec influencers face hefty fines

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has issued a statement firing at a group of passengers dancing, drinking and vaping on a Sunwing flight which flew from Montreal to Mexico. The Prime Minister expressed his frustration at the passengers who filmed themselves defying multiple aviation rules and COVID-19 protocol.

Trudeau expressed immense disappointment and said in a statement to a group of reporters:

"Like all Canadians who've seen those videos, I'm extremely frustrated. We know how hard people have worked to keep themselves safe, to limit their family gatherings at Christmastime, to wear masks, to get vaccinated, to do all the right things."

He continued:

"It's a slap in the face to see people putting themselves, putting their fellow citizens, putting airline workers at risk by being completely irresponsible."

In a joint statement, the Transport Minister, Health Minister and Public Safety Minister commented on the Sunwing passengers’ behavior calling it “unacceptable.”

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Sunwing cancels return tickets for protocol defying influencer passengers

The plane was chartered by a group called 111 Private Club. A few Sunwing passengers included former participants from reality shows Occupation Double and Love Island. They could be seen smoking and drinking on the charter flight on December 30.

Sunwing issued a statement saying they had canceled their return flight to Montreal, which was scheduled for January 5. However, James William Awad, who operates the Private Club, stated that the cancelation was unfair. He argued in an Instagram story:

"I wanted to make sure the group can eat during a five hour flight. If not, I still agreed to all the conditions."

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Influencers respond to protocol defying allegations

On January 4, three television personalities from L’île de l’amour took to Instagram to explain their side of the Sunwing flight experience. They claimed that although they were passengers on the flight, they did not take part in the protocol defying activities. Isabelle Labrecque, Sandrine Seguin and Anna-Maëlle Laprise said:

"We are also bashed for things we did not do [...] We were sleeping. There were 180 people on the flight. It was an organized flight. We didn't have many details about what was going to happen and it wasn't the 180 people who had the party on the flight, it was a minority."

Labrecque added that she and her friends were vaccinated and did not purchase alcohol.

After the flight party went viral on social media, the Federal Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra tweeted:

As the situation has escalated, Air Transat and Air Canada have refused to bring the influencer passengers back to Canada as well. The passengers who broke federal travel regulations may have to pay $5,000 in fine, per offense committed.