by Lacey Pfalz
Last updated: 9:25 AM ET, Thu January 6, 2022
Americans aren't the only travelers throwing caution, reason and general good behavior to the wind on airplanes anymore: a recent privately chartered Sunwing Airlines flight prior to New Year's Eve from Montreal to Cancun show a group of young adults drinking, vaping and even crowd-surfing in the airplane, without a care to COVID-19 protocols or common sense.
TMZ compared the scene to a "college frat party," with the flight crew apparently giving up and sheltering in place away from the chaos.
The perpetrators are a collection of Canadian social media influencers and reality TV stars, but none have been named officially.
Even Canadian President Justin Trudeau called the incident a "slap in the face" to all Canadians following proper COVID-19 protocols and condemned their bad behavior.
The Canadian federal government and Sunwing Airlines are investigating the incident, with Sunwing canceling their scheduled flight back to Montreal for their bad behavior.
The Canadian government issued an official statement on January 4 about these individuals, with the Minister of Transport, the Honorable Omar Alghabra, the Minister of Health, the Honorable Jean-Yves Duclos and the Minister of Public Safety, the Honorable Marco Mendicino issuing a joint statement.
"Our Government takes reported incidents such as these very seriously. We have directed our respective departmental officials to immediately launch an investigation into these allegations of non-compliance with COVID-19 and air safety rules and regulations," read the statement.
It went on to detail the types of punishments the travelers might end up receiving, such as fines up to $5,000 for noncompliance with COVID-19 procedures and can even be jailed or fined up to $750,000 for violations during re-entry into Canada. If found guilty of endangering the lives of others and causing harm, a traveler could also receive up to three years in prison in conjunction with or paying a fine of up to $1 million.
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