Did they always have the raw data ILS available? If yes the story should be much less thrilling.
A comment about climbing to save gas while holding - the gas you burn to climb is often greater than you’ll save at the higher altitudes. Performance charts show a savings of of roughly 120-200 lbs/hr per hour by climbing from 5,000to 10,000. That’s roughly 25-40 lbs/hr saved for each 1000’ of climb. Based on simple observations from enroute climbs the fuel burned (300-400 lbs for 2000’??) to move the airplane 2000’ higher would take hours and hours to recuperate.
The old thinking of staying high to ‘save gas’ in holding is frequently inappropriate. A 777-300 most efficient holding altitude is around 15,000’. Other jets are similar.