Several members of Sunwing’s infamous flight of influencers are still banned from Canadian planes a year later, including those who hadn’t partied.
This flight of December 30, 2021 had reacted to the four corners of the globe when several young people had partied without a mask on the plane in full confinement, in a pandemic context.
To this day, many of them are blacklisted by Canadian carriers, including those who have not been fined by Transport Canada.
This is the case of Sabrina Iorio who can no longer travel more than a year following the flight organized by entrepreneur James William Awad. However, she claims to have respected the rules, such as wearing a mask.
Photo courtesy of Sabrina Iorio
Sabrina Iorio says she followed the rules during the infamous Sunwing influencer flight, such as wearing a mask.
She realized this summer that she was hit with a travel ban when checking in on an Air Canada flight to Italy last summer.
“My ticket had been reserved for two months. […] When I showed up there on August 11, they didn’t let me board my flight, ”says the 34-year-old young woman, who claims not to have received a ticket during the famous flight.
like a criminal
Over the past few months, she has stepped up her efforts with Air Canada, Transport Canada and the Canadian Transportation Agency without managing to be removed from the blacklist.
As part of the show JE which will be presented this evening at 9:30 p.m., our Investigation Office accompanied her to the Air Canada customer service office, located at Montreal-Trudeau airport.
“It won’t work, even if you manage to get a ticket. It’s as if you were a criminal. Nearly ! It won’t block just here, ”explains the employee in post.
“Everyone is passing the buck. By association, I am guilty, ”laments Ms. Iorio, discouraged.
Disarray
Other passengers, who wanted to preserve their anonymity, also testify to having been refused access.
“I don’t want to be associated with this story anymore. But last year, I had to travel to a dozen countries and it was so complicated, ”explained one of them.
A distress also felt by a young professional who was refused a flight to Portugal.
Another must now fly from the United States for travel following being blocked by Canadian carriers.
Reached by our Bureau of Investigation, James William Awad assured that he had regained the right to fly, with the exception of Air Canada. He said others have also managed to get on the plane since.
Of the 154 travelers, 37 were blamed in connection with the health measures of the time. The total bill for the 42 tickets issued is $59,500.
Transport Canada refuses to make public the conclusions of the investigation, given that “a number of penalties are the subject of applications to the Transportation Appeal Tribunal of Canada”.
Federal Transport Minister Omar Alghabra declined to comment.
An overly arbitrary blacklist
The inclusion of young travelers on a blacklist of carriers is arbitrary and disproportionate, according to specialist lawyer Julius Grey.
“People are kicked out or canceled without an audition, without knowing why, without a deadline. […] A law exists and in certain cases, individuals may be subject to a restriction, but it must be proven for good reasons, it must be proportional, ”explains the lawyer.
According to him, the way of the courts becomes the only possible option; by declaratory judgment, injunction or class action.
Disruptors banished
Aviation specialist Professor Mehran Ebrahimi concedes that the tolerance threshold of carriers may vary, but the objective remains the same.
“With the advent of the democratization of civil aviation, the low costwe have witnessed a growing phenomenon of unacceptable behavior. […] Airlines have started collaborating […] to ensure that disruptive people are banned”.
“These people will surely be assessed for a very long time before they can board! commented airline pilot Dominique Daoust. Carriers Air Canada, Air Transat and Sunwing declined to provide an update on the situation.