Almost missed this at the end of the article:

    What happened next:
        - Reg Spiers disappeared from Adelaide in 1981 after he was charged with conspiracy to import cocaine
        - He was arrested in Sri Lanka in 1984 and sentenced to death for drugs offences
        - He successfully appealed against the sentence and spent five years in jail in Australia

If anyone finds this especially interesting, you should read 4000 Days by Warren Fellows. It’s an Australian man’s own self account of his time spent in horrific conditions while incarcerated within a Bangkok prison after getting caught smuggling in heroin. Very easy and engrossing read.

In a very similar vein: a book by an Australian author called “Shanataram”, based on his life, but one would imagine the definite use of an artistic license.

Man escapes prison in Australia for drugs, ends up in India in the slums in the 80s and fights in Afghanistan against the Russians, after working for the Indian Mafia.

Shantaram is incredible, I can only think of the original Dune novels by Frank Herbert as comparable in depth, scope and revelation of what it is to be human.

Shantaram's author claims use of artistic license in names, character descriptions and details, in order to protect those described from repercussions. Reading the extraordinary story and arc, and subsequently learning of the fact that later in real life the author later went on to marry into Czech royalty, it's easy to believe it as a fundamentally true account.

Great book, very entertaining. But it felt more like fiction than fact to me. Just an opinion.

The ending was total fiction.

Or the classic Papillion; the film version(s) are pretty good as well (there's a fairly recent 2017 film version starring Charlie Hunnam and Rami Malek, but it's a remake of the 70's version, iirc uses the same screenplay). It's about the author spending years in French prison camps in Guyana, iirc early last century.

Need a movie of this guy's life.

Tom Hanks ?

Flights were very different back then. I had a hospital room mate once that told a lot of stories about how in the 50s (maybe 40s? He was serving in Korea at some point, probably 40s now that I think about it) he and his friends would just sneak in amongst the boarding crowd on flights from NY all the way to Japan. They’d hang out in Japan, then do the same thing to get back to NY. The crew didn’t really check tickets of small kids. They’d literally just mix with the crowd and waltz in.

As for where they sat on flights, it was mostly in the some kind of luggage area. Apparently the flight staff had a routine where they all had a meeting in the front of the plane at the beginning of the flight, and that was when they’d sneak to the back.

It was one of those stories that was too crazy to be bullshit.

There's an old last in Chicago who's been arrested multiple times for sneaking into flights at O'Hare. She's been caught probably a half dozen times, and who knows how many times she hasn't been caught. It's in the newspapers every now and then.

She keeps getting arrested, but she's a honey badger. I love old people like that.

Thank you for the story! I got curious and I think I found the lady. Meet Marilyn Hartman who successfully boarded 20+ flights without a ticket: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_Hartman

I found out the hard way that the gate doesn’t actually check the airplane you’re supposed to be getting on is the one you scanned on. It’s up to the attendant to verify it scans and the flight is the right one. I dropped my passport and distracted the attendant. I got in the wrong plane and didn’t notice until someone else said I was sitting in their seat and the flight attendant had to check the manifest.

The pilot gave me one hell of an ass chewing for delaying his flight and not paying attention. I had to be escorted off the plane and escorted to the appropriate plane (which now had me on the manifest, so they got delayed waiting for me too).

It was pretty crazy...

In those years, NY to Japan would not be a direct flight, but would have multiple stops. Then there are the issues of meals and the language barrier in Japan. I think he was pulling your leg.

NY > Alaska > Japan would've been the route, totally possible due to implicit trust and if you were from the origin/disembarkation point, the seat was considered sold, you wouldn't per se walk on in Alaska.

Planes back then regularly had to land to refuel.

And if you ever get involved with old learning how to fly/ppl and dealing with old old CFI's/ex military, they love to tell you of their old glory days, and if you question they'll drill down exactly how it was.

So I'd say it was probably, and further proof, just look at frank abangale. So easy a teen did it.

Languages are only barriers if you think of them as one.

I've travelled in many places where I don't speak the language and managed just fine with a little creativity.

It’s totally possible, I just never heard bullshit that imaginative I guess. You never know though.

This American Life had a segment that was someone telling a story about when they were a teenager and snuck onto a domestic flight.

"Act Three" here: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/477/getting-away-with-it

So, I dunno, I can believe it, although I don't know exactly how connections worked then or if it could have been the same plane stopping in LA and continuing to Japan or what. But in general, yeah, "security" wasn't actually a thing on planes then. There was no security checkpoint at all to get to a gate before the 70s; you didn't need a ticket or to show ID to go through the security checkpoint that did exist before 2001. It's easy to forget or not realize how much thing have changed.

Or, it's just one of those rumors that people like to adopt and claim as a story that happened to htem, when really they heard it from someone else that claimed it happened to them, etc. That also happens.

That's the beauty of a good story. Someone can share something outrageous and the audience can enjoy the tale while the reality is "protected" by that looming doubt of whether it really happened or not. :p

I know that it is a little hard to believe but back in the sixties before hijackers changed the rules flying was a whole lot more relaxed. No security, just walk out on the tarmack, climb the steps and you're on the plane.

It was like a ship, friends could accompany you and then leave when they asked for all guests without a ticket to depart. I was just a kid but I do seem to remember them checking tickets. But I suppose you could wander aboard and find a good hiding place, unlikely but not impossible.

Flying domestic from Whangarei to Auckland isn’t much different today :) they check tickets and your bags get scanned of course, but it’s an extremely pleasant experience. The flight is fun too, prop planes!

Even in the 1980s:

https://www.irishpost.com/news/the-story-of-the-dublin-boys-...

I wonder if he got the idea for drug smuggling after he was so successful in smuggling himself.

Seems like a fascinating character with balls of steel.

It reminds me of the story of stowaways, although those stories are often much more sad for the people involved.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-33199985

Reminded me of https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gift_(The_Velvet_Undergr...

Nice, same!

Ha, I just go done listening to an awesome podcast that talks about this particular story[1]. If you like history and humor its a great podcast, check it out if you get the chance.

[1]: https://allthingscomedy.com/podcasts/113---reg-spiers-live

> But his plans changed when his wallet, containing all his savings, was stolen.

I realise 'internet banking' must make this significantly easier to deal with today than it was in the 60s, but... really?

Maybe he was already into drug smuggling, giving him reason to not tell the full story about the theft and/or why he had all his money in cash.

He was already familiar with shipping rules, had a friend who casually threw together an interesting crate to smuggle himself in, etc.

While I don't know enough about banking back then, I presume there was a system in place to withdraw money away from your home bank, albeit it was likely slow. I'm guessing his issue wasn't necessarily that he didn't have money on him.

This worked for centuries:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traveller%27s_cheque

I was meant more with regard to keeping 'that much' on him in the first place than not being able to replace it.

That too of course, just not making assumptions of other means I suppose, and it was the 'life's savings' being carried about that stood out.

Maybe he was working cash in hand while in the UK.

Yes, I don't doubt it. Would you keep it all ('savings') in hand though, if that's how you were paid?

The money-in-a-mattress stereotype exists for a reason. Although in the past, their parents most likely told them some awful tales of banks becoming insolvent or screwing them, and maybe he didn't have good documentation to open an account?

> Air industry insiders say something like this would never be able to happen now ... and a hidden person would be found.

Challenge accepted?

You'd probably be found by customs if you were to get past the post office's own screening. Maybe you could use some clever packaging (such as "lifelike adult pleasure doll") to get past them both.

Just emerge from the package in the middle of customs wearing a hi-vis vest and clipboard.

Given that Australia, Canada, and the UK are extremely worried about people importing sex dolls (especilly from Japan, from which Australia has recently banned all adult imports) because they may resemble children, I'd say labelling your package as a sex doll makes it more likely to get inspected.

They probably use temperature sensors, if for no other reason than to detect a fire risk.

Maybe you could look like you were inside a spool of some material which xrays cannot pass through and insulate the shit out of it.

Well, there's no way that hasn't been tried for drugs, making customs suspicious of those sort of packages.

A fairly impossible question to answer, but if you could ballpark - what percentage of drugs passing through customs do you believe are intercepted by customs?

I’d guess really not much considering the thriving dark web drug markets.

You're able to buy human sized drugs on the dark web!?

"Human sized" being >140 lbs and box to hold.

> what percentage of drugs passing through customs do you believe are intercepted by customs?

No, I was replying to that question.

Or “box of lead” but the lead is just lead-lined. Can’t be x-rayed.

I wouldn't do it now considering you'd either suffocate in the cargo hold of a jet, or get radiation poisoning from customs' X-ray machine.

Australia as a destination specifically is sounding pretty attractive right about now.

Because of their COVID response, or something else?

The constant wildfires make Californians feel at home there.

You import our eucalypts, you import our bushfires!

(For those not in the know: eucalyptus trees are extremely flammable. In very hot, dry conditions, their oil can become a vapour around them so that you would be well advised not to light a flame within a metre, as the tree may catch fire and occasionally even explode.)

That’s wild and unexpected. We (used to) burn eucalyptus for heating the house. A dry log will not light and stay lit without a healthy bed of coals in the wood stove.

I would think a tree adapted for brush fire would be more fire resistant. But a brief search does validate that on very hot days, the oil can vaporize and is indeed very flammable. The seasoned firewood must behave different than the live tree; the oil may have dried out at that point. TIL.

Various Australian trees actually depend on fire to propagate. I love going through areas that were burned out in recent months—you get fresh green growth springing up everywhere, and a lot of the trees that got burned become absolutely covered in fresh green sprouting branches, and it contrasts beautifully with the black from the burning.

Similar, pine trees in our former area require fire to propagate. Nature!

It's always funny/wonderful in hindsight, but largely because it didn't end in tragedy.

But in 1975: funny news article. In 2020: it's a meme on tiktok/twitter, public officials scurry to figure out how to deal with the myriad of copycat 'bucket challenger' types posting their 'coming out of the box selfie vids to millions of waywards likes' on social media.

About once a year a story hits the news about people who’ve climbed up into the landing gear of planes and proceed to die from hypothermia and/or lack of oxygen. Though apparently about one-in-four survive.

Does anyone think this story might be fake? How cold would the cargo compartment be on a long haul flight? Did he speak French?

Given that they ship animals and the contents of people's luggage would not survive freezing or a vacuum, I'm fairly sure it's more than adequate. Maybe not so much for the landing gear, which some people will also try to hitch a ride in (often fatally).

There is just conveniently space next to the box for him to get out of the box? Would think cargo holds are generally pretty stuffed full.

If it were strapped to a pallet or something, it would make its own space. It probably would be anyway becauee of the weight of the box.

There's a children's book called "Mailing May". It's about a true incident, about a child being mailed. This was in the US, when mail was handled on trains, and the postage was cheaper than a passenger ticket. Her parents couldn't afford to send her the normal way.

my father once flew home in a plane’s cargo compartment after bribing pilots. This was in USSR in the end of 70ies

Grandfather once talked a commercial pilot into giving him a hike while traveling the USSR. Just walked on the airport field and asked while everyone else was boarding, no bribe needed lol. Got to sit in an extra crew seat. Was also around the 70ies I believe.

It’s wild how different the flights are even from my early flights (pre 2001).

I doubt this is true.

1. "The French baggage handlers were saying some terrible things about the English." Does Spiers speak French?

2. "In an effort to find out what had happened [to his friend Spiers], McSorley alerted the media." The media? Why the media?

This guy is unbelievable

I’ve seen some phony YouTube Videos of people claiming to do this.