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.
"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.