Flying over Hurricane?

[JanetFlight]

Hi to all...in my humble curiosity i have a tech question for those here who fly the big birds:

I am seeing through FlightAware and FR24 that for instance some airliners and some airlines didnt and dont deviate and flew over the "naughty Sandy". For example last days some canadian 737's from Florida and other sunny spots routed right above it on their way to Canada. So my question its as follows (and forgive me if its silly, but i really would love to know it):
-If per example one of these planes have a despressurization or other tech failure that could force it to start descending more rapidly to a lower altitude/FL, how could they do it, right to the middle of the "RoallerCoaster"?
-Do they have any special procedures in these cases?
-Some other airlines/airliners keep doing the "roundabout" and dont pass over it, but others dont...any reason for that?

Tanx for your attention...JF

[Dan Winterland]

Flying over a tropical storm normally doesn't present many problems except that there may be CBs building up or over your cruise level. These can normally be avoided in the usual manner. One other problem is that the air is usually much warmer over such a storm and that will limit your max altitude and in some cases mean you may have to descend a little if you are already at max altitude before overflying.

But the storm may render the airfields you may rely on as en route alternates unsuable, so that would be a good reason to avoid it.