There is now a substantial amount of traffic departing the West Coast (LAX & SFO) about the same time and heading south west across the Pacific.
With the development of more sophisticated flight planning, two nights ago there were probably 6 or more aircraft (QF94, UA98, QF12, NZ5, UA 839, VA?, DL5?) all trying to get FL320 to 340, all going along roughly the same track. The NZ flight was cleared initially to FL260 en-route to Dinty (wpt); not sure how long it took them to get something higher. Ourselves and UA98 were never more than 80 miles apart from LAX to MEL all night. Some of these flights branched off but then the SFO flights merge so it's not unusual now to be asked by Oakland, and later Nadi, centre when you can accept a higher, often non-standard level. The same thing happens as you approach East of Brisbane as everyone homes in on Sydney, whether overflying for Melbourne or as their destination.
I'm not surprised that UA839 may have chewed through a bit more fuel en-route, but I am surprised it was enough to leave them down to min reserves, knowing that they are arriving in Sydney as the curfew finishes and multiple aircraft will be looking to land at the same time. Maybe it's just a clever way to jump the queue….
Last edited by C441; 4th Oct 2018 at 05:16.