Flight level 40 ASL. 40,000
Where one has to be to keep the cabin occupants screaming...
12,000... they will be quite good passengers at 18,000 except for the smokers who O2 debt conditions them for 15,000.
40 - 12 = 37,000 foot dive that happens in about 10 minutes as the O2 generators are not 100% after 15 mins, normal landing that is 22-27 minutes. As long as the pilots did not get the overspeed clackers beating a tempo, door seals be door seals.
The news report is crap.
True that losing pressurization at 30 to 40,000 is a red alert emergency, pilots train for it. They learn to descend immediately in a manner that does not endanger structural integrity.
This was a controlled decent.
The fact that the passengers became hysterical does not make it any more than it was.
I am not qualified to fly a jet of any kind, but I did pilot my own plane for 40 years and had some very skilled friends who were.