# Possible in the 70's to board a plane with no ID and no seat and pay cash for ticket? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 4, 2005, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-in-the-70s-to-board-a-plane-with-no-id-and-no-seat-and-pay-cash-for-ticket/315601 "2005-08-04T18:42:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-in-the-70s-to-board-a-plane-with-no-id-and-no-seat-and-pay-cash-for-ticket/315601/21 "2005-08-05T03:36:23Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > All money was collected before takeoff, I presume? No, but if you couldn’t pay, they’d show you to the door. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-in-the-70s-to-board-a-plane-with-no-id-and-no-seat-and-pay-cash-for-ticket/315601/22 "2005-08-05T04:00:19Z")
> [@groman](#): > > A slight hijack, but is it still possible anywhere in the developed world? That sort of system would certainly make me feel safer. Yup. Japan. You don’t need to show any ID on domestic flights. I’ve flown on a “fake” name before. My friend got the tickets and mispelled by name. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-in-the-70s-to-board-a-plane-with-no-id-and-no-seat-and-pay-cash-for-ticket/315601/23 "2005-08-05T09:21:14Z")
> [@adam yax](#): > > Isn’t this what DB Cooper did? That would be Dan Cooper (“D.B. Cooper” was a reporter’s mistake.) ---
**Author:** ![qubed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f07891/32.png) [@qubed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qubed)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-in-the-70s-to-board-a-plane-with-no-id-and-no-seat-and-pay-cash-for-ticket/315601/24 "2005-08-05T11:42:28Z")
> [@TokyoPlayer](#): > > Yup. Japan. You don’t need to show any ID on domestic flights. I’ve flown on a “fake” name before. My friend got the tickets and mispelled by name. :rolleyes: I have also recently flown (2004) domestic flights within Norway without showing ID. And I believe I’ve made a ‘international flight’ between Norway and Denmark without showing ID though my memory may be incorrent. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-in-the-70s-to-board-a-plane-with-no-id-and-no-seat-and-pay-cash-for-ticket/315601/25 "2005-08-05T14:07:03Z")
As I understand it, the sort of security measures we’ve come to expect at airports didn’t really start to take root until the mid-seventies. Up until that time, air travel was thought of as fundamentally like any other form of mass transportation like busses, trains, etc. It was only in the early seventies when skyjackings became the tool of choice for (particularly Palestinian) terrorists that you started to see much more intensive security procedures at airports. Check the wikipedia entry for [skyjacking](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyjacking). ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-in-the-70s-to-board-a-plane-with-no-id-and-no-seat-and-pay-cash-for-ticket/315601/26 "2005-08-05T14:24:02Z")
> [@Yeah](#): > > When did people start making reservations for plane rides outside of peak hours and holidays? Didn’t people just go to the airport expecting to get on a plane back in the 1960s and 1970s when load factors were around 55%? I did, on military discount. I don’t think it was even possible to make a reservation under that plan (but I could be wrong about that). All you needed was to travel in uniform (I changed for that purpose at the airport, then reversed my outfit at the destination airport) and a military ID, not to show who you were, but to show that you were in the military and entitled. It was strictly low-priority standby, so you wouldn’t know if you would fly until everyone else got on and the doors were about to close. If there were empty seats then, you got on. > [@siegel2@cox.net](#): > > Destinations were also not checked by anyone. If you wanted to go to Japan, and knew that the flight was going to there via Hawaii, you simply had to buy a ticket only to Honolulu and not get off. Even if there was a short stopover and you had to get off the plane and sit in a special waiting area, noboby checked you ticket when you boarded the plane for Tokyo. Except your luggage was left behind in Hawaii. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![CBCD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@CBCD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBCD)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-in-the-70s-to-board-a-plane-with-no-id-and-no-seat-and-pay-cash-for-ticket/315601/27 "2005-08-05T15:11:54Z")
I took the [Eastern Shuttle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Airlines) (RIP) from New York’s LAG to Boston and Washington many times. What I’m telling you is from memory, and may be fuzzed-out by the years. You had to tell someone what your name was before you got on the flight. This was in case the plane crashed - they needed a passenger list. It was more like a sign-in sheet than anything else. After the plane took off, a flight attendant walked down the aisle with a cart and took your cash or credit card for the flight. Wikipedia entry is [here.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Airlines#Eastern_Shuttle) ---
**Author:** ![rfgdxm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c0e974/32.png) [@rfgdxm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rfgdxm)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-in-the-70s-to-board-a-plane-with-no-id-and-no-seat-and-pay-cash-for-ticket/315601/28 "2005-08-05T15:31:10Z")
From a practical standpoint, wouldn’t **real** security mean someone couldn’t get on the plane with a gun, knife, bomb, etc.? What good is asking for IDs? IDs can be faked. And, even with asking for IDs unless the person is a known terrorist, what good would it do? I am not a known terrorist. Couldn’t I just get on a plane with cash and my real ID? If I managed to sneak on a bomb and was planning a suicide bombing, would I care if they knew after I blew myself and the plane up they knew who I was? ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-in-the-70s-to-board-a-plane-with-no-id-and-no-seat-and-pay-cash-for-ticket/315601/29 "2005-08-05T16:21:12Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > I seem to recall that Icelandic Airways would let you fly across the Atlantic without a reservation, pay cash, etc. I wonder how many backpackers decided to take a last minute flight without a passport? Icelandic would let you on without a reservation and would let you pay cash. However, I’m thinking I did have to show them a passport before I got on the plane, just so they knew I could get _off_ the plane when I got to Luxembourg. (OTOH, to get the cheapest fare, and boy, was it ever cheap, I believe you had to get a round-trip ticket, which was open-ended for, like, two years. But if you didn’t have a passport then I suppose you could just get right back on.) You could also, at no extra charge, hop off for 24 hours (or more, I suppose . . .) when the plane stopped to refuel at Reykjavik, and then hop back on to continue your flight the next day. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-in-the-70s-to-board-a-plane-with-no-id-and-no-seat-and-pay-cash-for-ticket/315601/30 "2005-08-05T17:03:16Z")
> [@rfgdxm](#): > > From a practical standpoint, wouldn’t **real** security mean someone couldn’t get on the plane with a gun, knife, bomb, etc.? What good is asking for IDs? IDs can be faked. And, even with asking for IDs unless the person is a known terrorist, what good would it do? I am not a known terrorist. Couldn’t I just get on a plane with cash and my real ID? If I managed to sneak on a bomb and was planning a suicide bombing, would I care if they knew after I blew myself and the plane up they knew who I was? Yeah, but back then no one was worried about suicide bombers. There weren’t any suicide bombers. They were just starting to worry about hijackers, since it was only in the 1960s that airplanes could fly between continents without refueling, and it took a while after that before there were hijackers who thought it would be a good idea to capture a plane and take it to Cuba, or threaten to kill everyone aboard unless such and such demands were met. And even then the hijackers and terrorists hoped to live through the hijacking and escape. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-in-the-70s-to-board-a-plane-with-no-id-and-no-seat-and-pay-cash-for-ticket/315601/31 "2005-08-05T17:17:32Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > I assume you’re referring to the person calling himself Dan Cooper, as D.B. Cooper was [shown](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._B._Cooper) to have nothing to do with the matter. > [@Walloon](#): > > That would be Dan Cooper (“D.B. Cooper” was a reporter’s mistake.) Sorry, but 4:30 autogyro from Siam was late. ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-in-the-70s-to-board-a-plane-with-no-id-and-no-seat-and-pay-cash-for-ticket/315601/32 "2005-08-06T01:26:53Z")
QUOTE " Except your luggage was left behind in Hawaii. " I only had a small backpack that I carried on. I didn`t check in any luggage. ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-in-the-70s-to-board-a-plane-with-no-id-and-no-seat-and-pay-cash-for-ticket/315601/33 "2005-08-06T01:30:43Z")
I don’t fly much… Is it illegal to pay cash for an airplane ticket since 9/11/01? What about 9/11/00? My goodness…does paying cash vs. credit prove anything about that person? Like, the credit card (and/or an ID) couldn’t be arranged under an alias, etc? - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![mike1dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@mike1dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mike1dog)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-in-the-70s-to-board-a-plane-with-no-id-and-no-seat-and-pay-cash-for-ticket/315601/34 "2005-08-06T03:17:22Z")
> [@Jinx](#): > > I don’t fly much… Is it illegal to pay cash for an airplane ticket since 9/11/01? What about 9/11/00? My goodness…does paying cash vs. credit prove anything about that person? Like, the credit card (and/or an ID) couldn’t be arranged under an alias, etc? - Jinx It’s not illegal, but inadvisable. If you pay cash for your ticket, then the ticket agent might call the F.B.I. and report you. Then you’d be interviewed by them as you waited for your plane. They assume that anyone who pays cash for a ticket must be a drug dealer, and can seize any cash on you. There was a case a few years ago where a landscaper who was going to buy plants had this happen to him. He eventually got his money back, but it took several years of litigation. ---
**Author:** ![MissGypsy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8491ac/32.png) [@MissGypsy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissGypsy)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-in-the-70s-to-board-a-plane-with-no-id-and-no-seat-and-pay-cash-for-ticket/315601/35 "2005-08-06T15:06:17Z")
> [@mike1dog](#): > > It’s not illegal, but inadvisable. If you pay cash for your ticket, then the ticket agent might call the F.B.I. and report you. Then you’d be interviewed by them as you waited for your plane. They assume that anyone who pays cash for a ticket must be a drug dealer, and can seize any cash on you. There was a case a few years ago where a landscaper who was going to buy plants had this happen to him. He eventually got his money back, but it took several years of litigation. Huh, just two years ago, my SO paid cash for a one-way ticket from Dulles to Chicago’s Midway. Nobody blinked an eye about it, and I would have thought it would send up a red flag. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-in-the-70s-to-board-a-plane-with-no-id-and-no-seat-and-pay-cash-for-ticket/315601.md?page=1)