I feel that one more time we have entered an area that there is no yes or no, right or wrong answer to this question.
I have learned in the 40 plus years that I have been flying that are very few absolutes in the safe and efficient operations of aircraft. In primary and basic flight school one is taught that thou shall never do such and such. Then when operating in the real world one learns that thou shall never do such and such, except in this or that condition. Then the rules change.
I had a situation very similar to that of Captain Airclues happen to me once at Chicago O’Hare (ORD). I was the PIC and PF on a Boeing 727 landing at ORD; it was the middle of the rush hour with minimum spacing, good VMC weather and heavy frequency congestion. I was following a heavy 74 from an Asian country and as he was clearing the runway at the end I was less than a mile final. We had not received a landing clearance and as the 74 was clearing the runway the crew on the 74 started asking the local (tower) controller a series of questions blocking the frequency. Aircraft were departing on two other runways, one parallel the other a diagonal.
I elected to land without a clearance (gasp!) as we were rolling out the local controller apologized for not issuing a landing clearance. After changing to ground control the controller informed us that if we had gone around we would have caused a near-miss or worse.
So in 99% of the time I would agree that one should go around under normal circumstances. However there is one term that no one on this thread has brought up that MUST be considered.
SITUATIONAL AWARENESS! In other words keep track of what is going on around you, especially outside of the cockpit (flight deck if you must). Don’t create an accident or cause an unsafe situation by blindly following some rule.
Thank you.