I wondered why it took so long for this CNN story to show up on this forum. What happened to the 45,000 feet deal??? This is just another example of most of the "facts" all these gullible "experts" are going by, are ones they get via the Malaysian government and are subject to change at any time. I don't want to hear any more of this "We all know..." stuff, when NO, we don't "all know..."!
Keep in mind that CNN's 12000ft story came from "sources" too - so whether it's any more or less accurate than anything else we've heard is debatable.
The story has changed so much and so many times that I'm not even totally sure there ever was an airplane.