I know that's what we've all been told, but I don't really buy that.
After a minute the captain would of been hammering hard on the door, his voice raising every second. There's no way the passengers wouldn't of realised something was very wrong early in the 8 minutes. The flight attendants wouldn't of been able to hide the fear from their faces.
Also the plane was descending fast, the passengers would of known this.

Let's hope I'm wrong though.