Larry Dighera wrote:
You sound like this spokesman from the Air Travelers Association

Yeah, that's because I borrowed his words. I only presented that side
of the argument so that it would be represented and people would not
further bring up that aspect. I just wanted to focus on what "maximum
altitude" means. Do planes carrying passengers ever fly at their
maximum operating altitude? Or is that considered too risky?

Without a specific definition of the meaning of 'maximum altitude' in
this case it's difficult to know.

Straight from the official technical specs:

http://www.bombardier.com/index.jsp?...1_1_1_3_5.html

Ceiling: Maximum operating altitude 41,000 ft