Although James William Awad is still waiting for a $500,000 refund from airlines nearly a year after the Sunwing flight scandal, he says his biggest loss is his anonymity.
• Also read: A year later, James Awad would not repeat his party on a Sunwing flight
“Sunwing and Delta still owe me the money. These are deposits I made on flights that ended up being cancelled,” explains Awad, comfortably settled in his luxurious Bois-des-Filion domain he shares with three roommates.
The entrepreneur celebrated his scandal party on December 30, 2021. A month earlier he had tried to charter a flight to Mexico with the company Delta for the first time. This airline was given a deposit of 250,000 Canadian dollars that would have canceled the flight without refunding them.
For better or for worse, Sunwing came to the aid of the party organized by Awad’s private club. The problem is that this airline finally decided to cancel the January 2022 flight that was supposed to bring back the hundred Québecians who were partying in Mexico.
Screenshot from Instagram
This decision was made the day after Le Journal published shocking images, in which we saw passengers smoking, drinking their own alcohol and dancing without masks.
No hurry, he said
He would therefore be waiting for $500,000 for those two flights canceled by the airlines.
“Delta wanted to reimburse me for the $250,000 in flight hours. I declined, it doesn’t make sense. […] We also have an agreement with Sunwing. We have three years to settle all of this legally. So I’m not really in a hurry,” says the 29-year-old calmly, as if these amounts were irrelevant.
The Journal actually saw the emails confirming that Awad gave these deposits to these companies. However, our interview requests to Delta and Sunwing on the subject remained unanswered at the time of writing.
- Listen to Guillaume Lavoie’s interview with Florence Brouillard, general manager of the PR agency fog on QUB radio :
An illuminated Virgin Mary
James Awad now appears to be turning the page earlier this year on this journey that has haunted these days for several months. As evidence, he removed all executives from his living room, where he published newspaper articles about the Sunwing controversy.
“I’m ready to move on, it’s time,” he says.
Now, when we visited, that room was adorned with thousands of dollars worth of alcohol bottles and a plaque bearing the logo of his Montreal company, TripleOne.
“I don’t do drugs, but I like alcohol very much,” the young man admits, while a lighted statue of Mary stares at us next to his sofa.
end of anonymity
With this Sunwing flight that changed his life, he will have understood at least one thing. All the money he used to pay for around fifteen cars will never be able to restore his former anonymity.
“I miss being able to go to the bar or even the spa by myself,” he says. Now I feel less secure and always have people with me. I loved my private life and was reserved. I’m a shy person. I don’t feel as free as I used to. I’m always recognized.”
where does the money come from
A mystery remains with him. The question that has been on everyone’s lips since it became “famous” is always the same.
How did this 29-year-old, who says he was raised in a very humble environment by Lebanese parents who worked as hairdressers in Montreal, amass such a fortune?
“It’s very simple, I make money from my investments. If I say what stock I’m investing in, I’ll become a financial advisor and get in trouble with the Autorité des Marchés Financiers,” Awad justifies, but remains vague and avoids the subject.
Photo archive, agency QMI
Recall that last January, Le Journal announced that this Bois-des-Filion resident had bought 11 properties in Quebec for a total of $17.3 million since 2018. All of these homes were paid for in cash through his numbered corporations registered in Quebec and Delaware.
This Journal report is the second in a series of three articles marking the anniversary of the Sunwing flight that had the effect of a media solar eclipse in January 2022.
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