The plane disappeared over the South China Sea without warning, and without sending any distress signals or emergency-locator signals.
Despite an extensive, and hugely expensive, international effort, the families and friends of the missing are back at square one after the recent admission there was no evidence searchers, including New Zealanders, had been looking in the right place - the Southern Ocean far off the coast of Perth, deemed to be the most likely ''corridor'' taken by the plane - and the official search was called off.
With no sightings, conclusive satellite or tracking information, no wreckage and no black box, in addition to the ''where'', investigators are no closer to discovering ''why'' the plane disappeared, let alone ''who'' or ''what'' might have been responsible.
The ramifications are mind-boggling.
It is the biggest aviation mystery the world has known.
The passengers and crew came from 14 countries.
On a personal level, the tragedy is unfathomable.
On a global level, it raises security fears to a new level in a world already sadly aware of the havoc that can be wrought through accident, negligence or malicious intent, on any mass transport carrier or system.
The failings of the world's most sophisticated surveillance systems, the apparent failings of the airlines and aviation authorities involved, the false leads and the highly criticised and confused handling of the aftermath by the Malaysian Government have done little to allay fears, or to ease suffering.
Conjecture and speculation have inevitably filled the vacuum.
At least two books have already been written on the mystery, one a novella by a Northland author, which has reportedly upset the families.
While it is presumed all those on the flight must have perished, without evidence to the contrary many families are still clinging to the hope, however unrealistic that might be, that their loved ones may be alive somewhere.
Even if they are not, the search for answers, and the location and possible recovery of their bodies, will be vital to provide any sort of closure.
Given the void of knowledge, depth of despair, and the lack of trust and confidence in Malaysian authorities, the families this week launched a fundraising campaign which hopes to generate more than $US5 million in a month towards a reward for information and a further private investigation.
Their plea is simply ''to find the truth, the plane and the passengers''. Given the global interest, the campaign is likely to generate support.
By yesterday it had reached more than $US10,000.
Certainly any further search and/or recovery operation will be hugely costly - the price tag is already in the tens of millions - so financial input from any means will be necessary for the investigation to continue.
Whether the reward for information will bring any leads is harder to ascertain.
Danica Weeks, the wife of missing New Zealander Paul Weeks, acknowledges the families are ''desperate'' but firmly believes: ''Someone knows something.''
Many will reason that is questionable.
If an already comprehensive international investigation cannot turn up conclusive information on the pilots, crew or passengers, or any terrorism links or plots that shed light on the mystery, most people would think it unlikely a reward could generate such information or any admission.
There could be legal and criminal issues around a reward, were any details to emerge.
While some believe the lack of answers are the result of appalling management alone, there are those who believe the lack of transparency has been symptomatic of a cover-up as they say the plane could not simply disappear given the pervasive surveillance of today's world.
In any case, the families firmly believe the truth is out there.
For them, the truth can't come soon enough, and for the sake of the billions of air travellers, the third stage of the families' campaign is vital: ''to lobby governments ... to invoke real change in air safety, aviation procedures, aircraft tracking and passport security and ensure this situation never happens again''.
