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Artist James Awad, aka Senior Musician, has 1 million Instagram followers and is the founder of the 111 Private Club. A long-time vision of James Awad, this club consists of notable figures such as influencers and TV personalities. When the musician chartered a December 30 flight from Montreal to Cancun through Sunwing Airlines, he got a few unpleasant surprises.
Here is the overview, photos of the unmasked passengers enjoying themselves have caused a stir. In fact, Sunwing refused to fly the party back to Canada, leaving them stranded in Cancun. James Awad released a statement on January 6 detailing and clarifying the situation.
There were several conditions to be met in order for the flight to take place. These included negative COVID tests for every single passenger. When everyone came up virus-free, the small group boarded the private plane and were off. James Awad wanted to provide a safe yet enjoyable experience for his party, and this did involve drinking and moving around during the flight-without masks.
The photos of this enjoyment caused concern among Sunwing, who James Awad met with to ensure a smooth flight back to Canada. James Awad’s statement details why the group has been denied entry home, and it is not based on COVID protocols. Having agreed to a laundry list of additional measures, including additional security personnel, the reasoning for not flying the party back to Canada was unfair, biased, and uncalled for.
The airline was encouraging James Awad and his colleagues to drink during the flight and had no issues with the people on board. If rules were being flouted, the airlines could have easily landed the plane, especially since they were over land the entire time. Instead, the airline created unnecessary drama and created a mountain out of a molehill. James Awad and his colleagues were left stranded in Mexico with no way home because Sunwing airlines refused to cooperate.
As James Awad seeks to provide the best experience possible for his VIPs, he was surprised that Sunwing denied a meal to his party for the 5-hour flight. He did not wholly object to this, simply asked if some sort of adjustment could be made to provide food if necessary. With this, yet agreeing to all other stringent conditions, Sunwing canceled the return flight to Montreal. In his statement, James claims this is due to “presumptions” that he and his party would question the other measures.
Sadly, the situation has been distorted, with James Awad showing concern rather than disregard for the party in his charge. Despite the massive inconvenience they endured, James still did everything in his power to resolve the misunderstanding amicably. Their airline, however, should be held accountable for such contradictory behavior.
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Photo provided by the author with written permission from owner James Awad.
