Originally Posted by
Maisk Rotum
Handled badly by both. If no vis app at night for them fine. It was communicated as such. ATC were less than accommodating by sending them to the hold. By that time both parties had become entrenched and then the crew threatened them with an an emergency call if ..... and what sounded like " and that will really **** up your...". To which ATC became more entrenched and invited them to call for a divert or shut up. 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.
Heavy traffic arriving from an international long haul flight at night time, complying with sensible company procedures, and then being treated by ATC like this. I donīt see this as anything else but unprofessional and very inflexible by ATC - which I do not find common in the US of A in general. I commend the Lufthansa for not bending over to the economical pressure. Iīm not sure what specific aircraft LH were operating on this sector, and they possible carried max load (cargo and fuel), but this reinstates the consideration of always carrying that extra bit of fuel - unless you want to extend your duty by 2 hours and see pax missing connecting flights etc.