Glad to help. I'm thinking the reporter may have misspoken. I've certainly seen reports that the plane was higher (various articles I've seen say "9000 meters," "10 kilometres" or "33,000 feet")
One other note about the course change request "20 minutes after take off" - that seems to be accurate. Looking back at the early reports, e.g. this BBC story, (
BBC News - Algeria airliner feared crashed on flight from Burkina Faso), does seem to confirm that the heading change was requested about 20 minutes into the flight.
Burkina Faso Transport Minister Jean Bertin Ouedraogo said the plane sent its last message at around 01:30 GMT, asking air traffic controllers in Niger to change its route because of bad weather.
So there were about 25 minutes between that request and loss of contact. (1:55 GMT) The TV program showing the Ouagadougou radar is misleading in that it makes it sound as if the disappearance from the radar immediately followed the change in heading.