One item I've not seen enter the discussion:
Based on the flight plan posted on Tim Vasquez' excellent
discussion, the following jumped at me:
"INTOL/M082F350 UN873 SALPU/M082F370 UN873..."
Decoded, this means the flight intended to cross INTOL at Mach 0.82 and FL350, proceed along the UN873 airway and cross SALPU at Mach 0.82 and FL370. In other words, the canned flight plan called for a cruise climb from FL350 to FL370 between INTOL and SALPU and before disappearing.
Do we know if this cruise-climb was performed? If it was, would not the A330 have been even more deeply embedded into its "coffin corner?"
DCr