Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Uncontrolled decompression" in English language version.
It's not all fiction. If an airliner's window was shattered, the person sitting beside it would either go out the hole or plug it - which would not be comfortable.
[A]t 40,000 ft (12,200 m), the International Standard Atmosphere (ISA) pressure is only about 18.8 kPa (2.73 psi), and the air temperatures are about −56.5 °C (217 K). The boiling temperature of water at this atmospheric pressure is about −59 °C (332 K). Above 63,000 ft or 19,200 m (Armstrong line), the ISA environmental pressure drops below 6.3 kPa (0.91 psi) and the boiling temperature of water reaches the normal human body temperature (about 37 C). Any prolonged exposure to such an environment could lead to ebullism, anoxia, and ultimate death, after several minutes. These are indeed very hostile conditions for human life.
...the suit technician who was inside the eight-foot [240 cm] altitude chamber, lost consciousness when his Apollo suit lost pressure when an oxygen line let go. The chamber was at approximately 150,000 [equivalent] feet [46,000 m] at the time of the accident...
The 51-L Challenger accident investigation showed that the Challenger CM remained intact and the crew was able to take some immediate actions after vehicle breakup, although the loads experienced were much higher as a result of the aerodynamic loads (estimated at 16 G to 21 G).5 The Challenger crew became incapacitated quickly and could not complete activation of all breathing air systems, leading to the conclusion that an incapacitating cabin depressurization occurred. By comparison, the Columbia crew experienced lower loads (~3.5 G) at the CE. The fact that none of the crew members lowered their visors strongly suggests that the crew was incapacitated after the CE by a rapid depressurization. Although no quantitative conclusion can be made regarding the cabin depressurization rate, it is probable that the cabin depressurization rate was high enough to incapacitate the crew in a matter of seconds. Conclusion L1-5. The depressurization incapacitated the crew members so rapidly that they were not able to lower their helmet visors.
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)