There is something else going on with this plane, the flight plan, the captain and first officer, and the situation surrounding it. Some of the more deep channel discussions have included this being a dry run test to identify the reactions of governments and agencies for use in future planning. Others have suggested this is a black flag ops to draw attention away from the Crimea and Caucasus region.
For those interested, the Professional Pilots' Rumor Network (PPRuNE) forum thread is most captivating. It's at almost 300 pages and there is a huge amount of technical jargon in the posts, but still quite fascinating to read:
http://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/5...tact-lost.html