Haven’t seen any indication that any passengers showed any concern or were aware of where they were. If its cloudy, it’s pretty hard to tell where you are. However if it is clear, someone should notice that things aren’t right by looking out of the window. I always appreciate the crew telling us where we are, but I guess that is too much information for a lot of people.
There have to have been passengers who were watching the time, due to connecting flights and business or personal appointments at the destination. I’m guessing the flight attendants were totally out of it too, distracted like the pilots by some activity they weren’t supposed to have been engaged in, and were roused into knocking on the cockpit door and rousing the pilots by a passenger inquiring as to when the heck they were going to be landing, seeing as how they were still heading straight at full altitude at least 45 minutes past the point where they should have begun descent, and there had been no announcement of a delay or diversion.
That is a fascinating whole other area of discussion. There are always bound to be some (many?) passengers with enough understanding and interest in air travel to understand speeds, altitudes and headings. With that information they can determine, if interested, where they are at all times during the flight.
In fact, many airlines had this data available to first class passengers at different times.
After 911, is it not obvious that the passengers are not just passive cargo, but a source of potential help. Remember Flight 93?
I remember the story recently about an Air Force Crewman flying civilian across the Pacific. It happened that his usual job was refueling other aircraft in flight, and he noticed a major fuel leak by just looking out his window, and he informed the crew. The flight would have never reached its destination.
In short, if the passengers had flight information as they travel, it is almost certain that someone would question a major deviation like this controversial one, long before a 150 mile overshoot.