Close X
Thursday, November 28, 2024
ADVT 
National

Feds fine passengers on Sunwing party flight

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 08 Mar, 2022 02:30 PM
  • Feds fine passengers on Sunwing party flight

MONTREAL - Passengers are paying a pricey penalty for partying onboard a Sunwing flight last year that devolved into a raucous onboard soirée.

The federal Transport Department said Tuesday it issued unspecified fines against six passengers.

Videos of the charter voyage from Montreal to Cancun, Mexico, shared on social media show unmasked passengers in close proximity singing and dancing in the aisle and on seats as some clutch bottles of liquor, snap selfies and vape.

A half-dozen passengers who were not fully vaccinated when they boarded have now received penalties that could reach a maximum of $5,000 each, Transport Canada said. Under COVID-19 rules, all passengers must be fully vaccinated to board a flight departing the country.

“Certain behaviours reported in connection with the flight on Dec. 30, 2021, are unacceptable and will not be tolerated," Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said in a release. "Aviation rules must be respected by everyone, for the sake of everyone’s safety."

Transport Canada launched an investigation on Jan. 4 to determine whether travellers violated laws or regulations around aviation safety and security.

Sunwing has said in an email that passengers — some were Quebec-based social media influencers — violated aviation regulations and public health rules via “unruly behaviour,” prompting an internal probe.

The flight took off about two weeks after the federal government advised Canadians to avoid non-essential travel outside of Canada.

The organizer of the controversial trip said in late January that Sunwing unfairly abandoned his group in Mexico.

James William Awad told reporters that the Toronto-based airline, along with Air Canada and Air Transat, should be “ashamed” of themselves for refusing to fly the young travellers back to Canada based on videos of the flight that circulated online.

The airlines stranded 154 Canadians in the Yucatán Peninsula without knowing whether they could afford to keep paying for hotels and food, he said.

Weeks earlier, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described the group as “idiots” and barbarians.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 8, 2022.

MORE National ARTICLES

Trudeau opens door to more military spending

Trudeau opens door to more military spending
NATO figures estimate Canada spent 1.39 per cent of its GDP on defence last year. The 2017 defence plan Trudeau referred to promised to inject $535 billion over 20 years into the military, which would get spending to about 1.5 per cent of GDP.

Trudeau opens door to more military spending

Ottawa protesters not donors had accounts frozen

Ottawa protesters not donors had accounts frozen
Hundreds of demonstrators blockaded roads in Ottawa for more than three weeks last month, and similar demonstrations blocked four major border crossings in Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia.

Ottawa protesters not donors had accounts frozen

B.C. pledges $18.4 million to Lytton recovery work

B.C. pledges $18.4 million to Lytton recovery work
Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth says $18.4 million will cover much of the costs of debris removal, archeological work and soil remediation for municipal, uninsured and underinsured properties in Lytton.

B.C. pledges $18.4 million to Lytton recovery work

B.C. has no plans to cut gas taxes, Farnworth

B.C. has no plans to cut gas taxes, Farnworth
Alberta has responded by reducing its tax by 13-cents per litre on both gasoline and diesel. Farnworth says there's no simple solution to the rising fuel price situation as the cost rose above $2 a litre in Metro Vancouver.    

B.C. has no plans to cut gas taxes, Farnworth

Group opposes forced health transfers in B.C.

Group opposes forced health transfers in B.C.
Dying With Dignity says the service is being restricted because of an agreement that allows facilities covered by the Denominational Health Association to collect taxpayer dollars but refuse to perform services they oppose on religious or moral grounds. 

Group opposes forced health transfers in B.C.

Surrey's Vaisakhi parade cancelled third year in a row due to COVID19 concerns

Surrey's Vaisakhi parade cancelled third year in a row due to COVID19 concerns
The magnitude and planning of this event takes a full year to complete and given the tight turnaround between the constantly changing public health order restrictions being lifted and the scheduled date of the parade, organizers did not feel they could responsibly honour the importance and magnitude of the event in this timeline.    

Surrey's Vaisakhi parade cancelled third year in a row due to COVID19 concerns