So there was no conscious effort to avoid the Ukraine.........
....So avoiding Ukraine airspace was both coincidental and reactionary based on the disaster and nothing was written in stone pre-MH17.
When the situation deteriorated around Simferopol a few months ago, we (Qantas) ceased flying through Simferopol's airspace and Simferopol airport ceased to be an Emergency airport and was notated "No longer available".
Prior to this, the flight plan track would occasionally clip the bottom south-western corner of Simferopol's airspace, over the Black Sea about 150nm from the Crimean coast or 400nm from where MH17 met their fate.
I have also tracked considerably further to the south and west, passing over Istanbul, Venice and just north of Paris.
So yes; there was a conscious effort to avoid the Ukrainian airspace when the situation deteriorated there, although there was only a very small corner of that airspace that was ever going to be traversed en-route from DXB to LHR & return. No, it was not a reactionary move taken after the event.
Attached is an image of my most recent planned track in blue. MH17 came down near "DON" at the top right.
