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A group of selfie-obsessed passengers who filmed their out-of-control party aboard a chartered flight from Montreal to Mexico face an uphill battle getting home as three airlines have refused to fly them back to Canada.
Some in the unruly, unmasked group that flew on a Dec. 30 Sunwing Airlines charter flight to Cancun have also since tested positive for COVID-19, including Rebecca St-Pierre, a 19-year-old student from Quebec who told The Canadian Press that she’s in isolation in Tulum.
Video of the raucous, airborne crowd – which included social media influencers and some reality TV stars – went viral, showing them dancing in the aisles, vaping, using the public address system and wielding a bottle of Grey Goose vodka.
Sunwing first canceled the group’s return flight to Canada scheduled for Wednesday.
Then Air Transat and Air Canada also both said they will refuse to carry the passengers.
The group was slammed Wednesday by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who called them “idiots” and barbarians.”
A day earlier, Federal Transport Minister Omar Alghabra, Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos and Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino issued a joint statement saying they had directed their departments to investigate the rowdy flight.
Sunwing also reportedly launched an internal investigation.
The passengers could face fines up to $5,000 for each individual offense if they’re found to have broken any regulations.
The trip’s organizer, James William Awad, who operates 111 Private Club, reacted to the group’s antics in a Wednesday Twitter post.
Awad said the controversy stemmed from a “simply party.”
But he added “I will take a moment to sit down and rethink everything. Especially how I can do things better next time.”
St-Pierre, who won the free trip in an Instagram contest, said she was unsure where Awad or others in the group were as of Wednesday. She estimated about 30 others in the group also tested positive for the coronavirus.
“The organizer [of the trip] just left everybody. I don’t know who’s still here. All the flights have been cancelled,” St-Pierre told The Canadian Press.
“I was expecting a relaxing week, where I was going to be careful,″ she said. “But this turns out to be an expensive trip for something that was supposed to be free.”
With Post wires
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