 That rule furthermore stipulated that anyone who wanted to purchase a ticket for an "affinity group" charter flight needed to book at least three months in advance of the date of travel and be a "bona fide", member of an officially recognised organisation.Although some of these "affinity groups" were genuine, an overwhelming majority of these "common interest associations" was fake.The sole purpose of their existence was to sign up as many members as were needed to profitably fill a contemporary long-haul jetliner, usually a Boeing 707, for a transatlantic charter flight by issuing each prospective passenger with a back-dated, bogus membership card of a non-existent organisation, sometimes on the day of departure.