Uche Odilatu bought a ticket to Lagos, Nigeria, more than a month ago, hoping to visit her dying mother over the holidays. But instead of jetting away to her home in West Africa, she stood amid an angry crowd of would-be passengers in Bladensburg, )) useless ticket in hand.
Like Ms. Odilatu, these travelers-to-be purchased their tickets from Klasique International, an agency run by Martin Blair, who had advertised discount flights from Baltimore-Washington International Airport. But yesterday, for the fourth time in six months, Mr. Blair's jet never arrived.
"I spent my last penny for this flight," said Ms. Odilatu, who came to Mr. Blair's office, located in the basement of his house, seeking an explanation or the $1,098 she paid for a round-trip ticket. "Nothing like this has ever happened and I'm just devastated."
But unknown to the agents or passengers, Mr. Blair had no authority from federal authorities to operate charter flights. Nor is there evidence that he had contracted with an airline for seats to resell to the public.
Officials at the U.S. Department of Transportation said he has applied to operate a charter service. "All I can say is he has not been granted authority," said Hoyte Decker, the assistant director of consumer affairs.
Neither BWI nor U.S. Department of Transportation officials can explain what happened.
But for dozens of passengers, like Ms. Odilatu, explanations would come too late.
Early yesterday, Ms. Odilatu, a first-grade teacher in Washington, called Klasique's Bladenburg office to verify which gate flight 468 would use at BWI. She was stunned to learn from the office secretary that the 17-hour flight had been canceled.
By mid-morning, dozens of angry ticket holders -- and a Massachusetts travel agent representing some 40 passengers -- had descended on Mr. Blair's split-level house.
According to ticket holders, Mr. Blair was not present when they arrived and a nervous secretary soon left. "People were screaming, threatening to take the computers and copy machines," said Austin Anyanwu, a 32-year-old from Arlington, Va.
By late morning, Mr. Blair had returned. But he refused to say why the flight had been canceled or whether the passengers would get their money back.
"I can't talk about this now," he said. "I have already taken care of everything." He refused to comment further.
BWI officials said Mr. Blair first contacted them last summer about operating a charter service to West Africa. The airport has no direct service to Africa and charter operation was an attractive option, according to Jay Hierholzer, associate administrator for marketing and development. Klasique's first flight was to be July 13 to Ghana, Mr. Hierholzer said.
BWI officials referred Mr. Blair to Ogden Aviation Services, a company that offers ticket and baggage handling for charter operators at the airport.
According to Duane Yingling, manager of Ogden, Mr. Blair told him in July that he would be leasing a plane through an organization called F&B; Flying Service. "The next thing I know he told me that F&B; was out of the picture and he was now dealing with Interjet Leasing Corp. out of Fort Lauderdale," he said.
But, with dozens of passengers waiting, the July 13 plane never showed up. Angry passengers called the Maryland Aviation Administration, the state agency that operates BWI. In turn, BWI officials notified the U.S. Department of Transportation's Consumer Affairs office.
"There is a process and oversight responsibility by the federal government," said Mr. Hierholzer. "It's important to recognize that's where the responsibility is."
But, said Mr. Hierholzer, "after the summer incident, he [Mr. Blair] seemed to go away and we thought it was a dead issue."
A few months later, however, Mr. Blair was back. Flights were scheduled for the day after Thanksgiving, Dec. 9 and yesterday, according to Mr. Yingling of Ogden. None, he said, showed up.
In fact, after the first three no-shows, Mr. Yingling said, he didn't even provide staff for the ticket counter or to load baggage.
A number of passengers -- including people who flew from Michigan for their 4 p.m. departure -- believed differently.
"At 12:15, I called Klasique and said 'Am I in the right place?' " said Marilyn Kamara, of Silver Spring, sitting at the ticket counter yesterday. "I was just told to sit and wait. At 12:45, I called back and found out it was canceled."
As she waited for a ride back to Silver Spring, Ms. Kamara stared at her four huge suitcases. A settlement officer for a mortgage company, she was planning to be en route to Freetown, Sierra Leone, to attend the wedding of her younger brother. The suitcases contained the bride's wedding gown as well as decorations. She also had the bridal rings for Tuesday's ceremony. "I'm just going home. I don't know what I'm going to be doing yet."
It was not clear yesterday what Mr. Blair's role has been in the no-show flights. Some passengers and agents thought he was a charter operator. Others said he was a ticket consolidator who buys up blocks of airline tickets and resells them to travel agents or individuals.
Charter flights, which typically offer significant savings, operate under different regulations than regularly scheduled passenger service. Among other things, passengers must be notified 10 days in advance if a flight is canceled.
All federally approved charter operators must have a written agreement with an airline that provides the flights. In addition, operators must post a bond and establish an escrow account.
DOT officials said they were not aware of consumer complaints about Mr. Blair's operation or whether the pattern of not showing up for flights would affect his application. They would not comment on the complaint filed by BWI officials.
In Baltimore, Ron Chunn, travel consultant with Carib World Travel, said his company booked several clients on the December flights.
A week ago, one of his clients went to the airport for a flight that never showed up.
After four days of efforts and some bounced checks, Carib recovered its customer's cash only after accompanying Mr. Blair to the bank.
"They give travel agents a bad name," Mr. Chunn said. "They give BWI and the industry a bad name."