Hi,
Quote:
Thunder and lightning comments are IMHO of less merit. The primary threat here is convection (up/down draft, shearing resulting in excessive strain to the airframe and disruption to flight path/attitude) and precipitation (causing icing on the airframe and affecting thrust). Lightning can occur many miles away from the convective storm and can be independent event. Lightning strike on a/c is a very rare and generally benign event.
"Ironically .. the thunderstorm thingy was the first words tell by Gourgeon (AF CO) at first press meeting as explainations after AF447 crash.
This was immediately dismissed by some experts as a cause of the crash...
Certainly some had an agenda .. but who ? 
"
Allow me to speculate: If every airline in the world had a policy stating that Avoiding Thunderstorms was the prudent thing to do, and AF did not -- then I feel confidant that they would dismiss it as a Probable or Contributing cause factor. Especially since they have no more proof as to the real Probable Cause than we do.