Well, in Boeing's defense, it apparently did fly, no?
Yes, but I wasn't aware of that prior to the incident, not exactly laid out in the MEL, and as the panel apparently blew off as either the gear or flaps were being retracted, and vibration became obvious i.e. what other damage might have occurred, would you have continued for 7 hours over shark infested ocean ? I'm on the ground mate, sort it.
Next time - I might, might, be tempted to take a different viewpoint, but as it happened not long after a 747 had experienced a bit of fuselage skin peeling off taking a row of passenger seats with it, and we couldn't see how far in towards the fuselage the opening was .... tough, did it.
Hindsight is great.