FHTY = Fly Her To You
Completely agree, the risks of flying a POT anywhere prior to not only meeting face-to-face, but prior to a satisfactory BCD are extremely high. From my experiences, even buying airfare for an existing SB has significant risk as well.
During the 9 years I lived in San Jose, CA I met POT's who lived in some of the locations I would visit often - specifically Los Angeles and San Diego. During that time, I paid for airfare to me in San Jose 4 times, 2 each with 2 SB's (not at the same time, sadly LOL). All of those went mostly* well... but to make the added effort worthwhile, I had them stay with me for 2-4 days, and we headed north for wine tasting bacchanals in Nappa and Sonoma. *Mostly = one of the SB's on her 2nd meeting, flaked and missed her flight. She was able to catch the same flight the next day, so we had to shorten the trip by one day.
When I moved back to LA, I met an SB that had moved to LA from Ontario, Canada. She ended up moving back to Ontario for a few months, then she wanted to return to LA. This turned into a total disaster, as I tried to make it work twice. The first time, I sent her cash to buy the ticket. But she stalled for a few days then admitted that she used the cash for some emergency (car?). After much apologizing and delay, she begged for forgiveness and asked to come see me for 4 days, staying at my place for an anything goes adventure. (BTW: 23 years old, blond, blue eyes, spinner body with C-cups, and vacuum skills that would put Dyson to shame.) Not willing to risk losing cash, I bought the ticket for her. No doubt, those of you who have some experience with Sugar travel can see this disaster warming up.....
I had her send me a pic of her passport, and I booked the trip 1 week out. Then sent her the e-ticket info by email. She confirmed she had the info, then confirmed again 2 days before, and once more the day before. But the day of the flight-radio silence. I could see her ticket status through the airline's app; she had checked in, and the fight took off on time. I went to the airport to meet her at baggage claim and monitored the flight. It landed, and I sent her a text to let her know where to meet me and I waited. And waited. The bags for her flight arrived at the carousel and I waited some more. And some more. I texted 3 times over 30 minutes with no reply. I KNOW she never got to Baggage Claim; it's a small airport and the claim area is maybe 200 feet by 60 feet. I was in the middle and could see the entrance for arriving passengers. Pissed off, I headed for my car and was able to repark where I could see the main terminal entrance. I waited some more.
After another 30 minutes, I spotted her near the entrance. I walked over to her, and she saw me. She met me a few yards past the door and looked panicked. She made up some excuse about her phone dying and told me her friend had flown with her and didn't know about her SB activity. She begged me to be patient and said I could pick her up tomorrow from her friend's hotel. She would make some excuse and slip away...
Now I was really pissed, but didn't really see any options. So told her ok and headed back to my car. But instead of leaving I stayed to watch the terminal entrance for a bit longer. Maybe 10 minutes later she emerged with her VERY MALE friend. They got a taxi and left the airport. I got on my airline app and cancelled her return flight and never contacted her again.
Having said all that, I can suggest one tactic that you might consider for agreeing to a Fly Her To You date: Have her pay for the ticket and you can reimburse in cash her when she sees you. That puts all the financial risk (if not the time risk) on her. She cannot steal cash that you have yet to give her.
The only other suggestion for this type of situation is not new: Multi-tasking. As I believe you have already done this, it's familiar to you. Pick a destination and schedule multiple M&Gs in the 2-4 days you will be there. That gives you at least one back up, maybe more. When I have done this in the past, I also pre-selected a few Pro's from TER as a Plan C option.
Finally, I'll remind us all that a video chat prior to local or distant travel can help reduce risk and improve confidence (but never 100%) in your POT.
Life is good
The Cat