What if after the astral projection scene, we cut to Luke on ahchoo. He stands up with a little smile, his lightsaber flies to his hand and he puts it on his belt. He walks out and raises his X-wing from the water - time to join the fight. Would anyone have been opposed to this?
I would have done everything differently.
But I’d much rather have what you talk about than Luke disappearing.
I like the idea of Luke raising the X-wing at the end of the movie. And then in-between 8 and 9 is Luke flying to the Resistance.