The passengers don't strictly need to stay conscious, though the pilots certainly do need to. I do wonder how likely a total and rapid loss of pressurization i

The passengers don't strictly need to stay conscious, though the pilots certainly do need to. I do wonder how likely a total and rapid loss of pressurization is to coincide with the plane remaining airworthy at all though. I'm guessing most survivable scenarios involve a less than immediate depressurization, which would buy the pilots more time to save the passengers. And of course I doubt the pilots would be doing anything mindlessly, let alone responding to an emergency.. In any event, I think the Concorde proves that operating at that altitude is feasible. It's not like 60,000 feet at supersonic speeds is survivable. The pilots would have minutes to get down before passengers were brain damaged. The chemical oxygen generators giving oxygen to the passengers don't last long, not nearly as long as the oxygen bottles for the pilot/crew, and that's assuming the passengers can get the masks on.