Slightly off the thread topic but Boeing say "consider structural integrity" before increasing speed.
If I have been settled nicely in the cruise at FL380 and there's a
sudden loss of cabin pressure I would say it is highly likely that the structural integrity is in doubt. Obviously follow the prescribed sops but sheer self survival is going to say go down! You're going to feel pretty damn cold apart from anything else! As has been said it's important to get out of the high levels asap just for survival.
One example - Mid-Atlantic on some aircraft on some routes, if you unthinkingly blast straight down to FL100 it is quite conceivable you will then have insufficient fuel to reach any of your nominated alternates....in fact on a bad day you might not have enough fuel to make any land at all...that's why some airlines/some manufacturers FCOM's state that in the absence of significant terrain always halt the decent at an intermediate level, in our case FL150, (the level used for the planning of a decompressed diversion), and only continue down to FL 100 when landing is assured. You're not going to kill passengers at a cabin alt of 15000, seeing as they're seated and not required to perform any exacting mental tasks then the majority will OK. As a result the cabin crew can begin selectively taking passengers off the masks, saving the gas for the minority who may need it
wiggy, I thought there was a statutory requirement to provide oxygen to pax when above FL100 (although 30 mins without when above FL100 but below FL130 certainly used to be in the regs)?