Originally Posted by
runner1021
All things considered, Boeing had a very lucky day. Had this happened on a flight halfway to PHNL at FL390, Boeing would no longer be in the commercial aircraft business.
True, however I speculated that it may not have been possible for this failure mode to occur at a higher altitude and pressure differential. More pressure differential means more friction on the stop fittings and less likelihood of shifting enough such that the plug would be shifted enough to be ejected.
Chain of events. There was surely a root cause, but multiple circumstances and contributing factors likely needed to align for this failure.