My point is: The long time needed to contact that very aircraft leaves room for improvement. That's all. No accusation or whatever. Just a lesson learned.

BTW: Eyewitness pax reported to have informed the cabin crew immediately without being taken serious. (see tabloid source above)

If you are informed that bits have fallen off your aircraft I hope most would land asap. An A330 from a german airline in Dusseldorf had a similar incident a few years ago and after an immediate return it was discovered that debris had breached a fuel tank. In this case the time it took to inform the crew seems to have been an important factor.