“A woman flew 1,151 miles to meet a man she’d been talking to online for three years – but he never showed up and ghosted her. River Blake, 23, flew cross-country from Lafayette, Louisiana, US, to Rapid City, South Dakota, with a one-way ticket to meet her ‘date’.
She says the eight-hour flight was paid for by her date – but after he didn’t show, River was forced to pay $1,290 to cover the cost of overnight accommodation and a last-minute ticket home for the following day.
River hasn’t spoken to him since and vows only to focus on her career from now on. River, a model, from Lafayette, New Orleans, said: “I spent three to four hours at the airport running in circles – and when I realized he wasn’t coming to get me, I left.
“I booked a Hilton for two nights, met a nice guy through a friend, and he showed me the city. “It definitely still hurts – it really rubbed me up the wrong way – but at least I got to do some sightseeing.”
River’s date first slid into her DMs in 2019 – saying he’d spotted her modeling work and thought she was ‘beautiful’.
They both had a lot in common – including a passion for truck shows and working in social media full-time – giving them plenty to talk about. Despite living in different states, the pair spoke almost every day for five years and had lots of mutual friends – leading River to believe he was the real deal.”