Sorry NOIP, I didn't mean to offend. I was trying to comment on two issues with overflight of these areas.
The first is that this situation is no different than any other in this business, in that there is a need to ensure safety in non-normal or emergency situations, as well as when everything is working normally. Therefore, airline management should not be sending aircraft over an area of conflict, even if the cruising level has been deemed safe, because they have not considered the lower cruising level the aircraft will be forced to fly at in the event of a non-normal or emergency situation.
The other issue is that, with the weapons available to all & sundry these days, perhaps there is no safe level over some of these areas. However, it would appear that some airline management are just looking for an excuse to save a buck & fly over theses areas & are hanging their hats on statements from ICAO & clearances from local ATC. Then, when a tragedy like MH17 happens, it is someone else's fault.
The discussion of what altitude an aircraft can cruise at over these areas is somewhat irrelevant when, in the event of a non-normal or emergency situation, the aircraft will be forced to descend to an altitude which will put it within range of even a shoulder launched missile.