Originally Posted by
Maisk Rotum
All LH had to do was say "minimum fuel". To which ATC would be obliged to ask them for fuel remaining in minutes. Some sort of expedited sequencing should have then followed. Drama over. A few big egos on the radio here.
Don’t know if this is a US/UK thing, but that’s pretty much the opposite of what should happen over here, and I think the rest of Europe, when someone declares “minimum fuel”. If a pilot declares it, we’re to give them an updated delay/EAT/track mileage, and at this point no expedited sequencing whatsoever. It’s up to the pilot on being given the updated mileage/delay to declare an emergency if necessary, at which point the priority kicks in. The DLH was told 10 minute at one point, seemingly 14 minutes later from what the video shows, the DLH pilot is trying to get an update and the controller refuses to pass it.
As Paxboy said, the odd part is why this was an issue for this specific flight, and not before or since that we know of.