Taking up most of the seats on the flight: a group of 100 students from Baltimore and Washington.
The students boarded a chartered 727 about 7:20 a.m. for a historic non-stop flight. They prepared to join the Baltimore Orioles, who will face the Cuban national team Sunday in an exhibition game.
Among the lucky students were a well-behaved group of boys from St. Ignatius Loyola Academy, a private Jesuit school for underprivileged children.
Fifteen of the school's 64 students were chosen by lottery and given donations to go, after Orioles owner Peter Angelos offered to provide a plane to fly a group of children to Cuba for the game.
The students also will participate in a baseball skills clinic with the Cuban team and meet Cuban students.
Students began arriving at the school at 4:30 a.m. wearing the school uniform of khaki slacks, black shoes, sky-blue shirts and maroon neckties.
They were told to bring no gum or candy, no electronic devices, no more than $20 in cash in small bills -- mainly to portray a positive image of American youth.
Some of them also brought their lacrosse sticks, so that they could show Cuban students a Native American pastime.
After getting last-minute federal approval March 19 to take his team to Cuba, Angelos put out the word to area schools and recreation leagues that he would provide a plane for 100 youths and up to 50 chaperones.
By Sunday, 50 youths had been signed up by parents who could afford the $750 per person.
Organizers saved the rest of the seats for students who would have trouble affording the fee. Angelos pledged $12,500 to help defray costs, but St. Ignatius still needed about another $5,000.
By Monday, benefactors were lining up to help make the trip a reality.
``The kids were coming in for breakfast, people were pulling over and giving them checks -- $1,000, $2,000,'' said Mary Sapeta, the school's director of development.
In three days, donors gave about $7,000, she said.
With the help of Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., the students got passports, visas and inoculations for Hepatitis-A and typhoid in just three days.
Jonathan Chapman, 12, one of the first students to arrive at the school today, packed a baseball that he's hoping to bring back with the signatures of both the Orioles and the Cuban all-star team.
His father, John, still couldn't believe that his son was about to board a Havana-bound plane.
``Jonathan came home and said, `I may go to Cuba with the Orioles,' and I said, `Yeah, right,' '' the elder Chapman said. ``I can't wait until he gets back so we can talk about what he's experienced.
``I was telling him, `Do you know you're part of history?' He doesn't really understand. He's interested in seeing the country.''
The Orioles are the first major-league baseball team to play in Cuba in 40 years. The Cincinnati Reds and Los Angeles Dodgers played exhibition games in Cuba in March 1959.
© Copyright 1999 The Associated Press