Borgy (or is it Cutey),
There is no way you would have been slowed to follow the virgin in that situation.
Had a qf on climb out of CB for ML pass a virg the other day, had to slow the qf down, very indignantly asked if he was to follow the virg that he'd just overtaken. Yes he did, the virg was out of SY and had been on frequency for a while and was at min speed.
He really shouldn't be making those comments unless he knew the full picture. (I doubt he was monitoring the high sector frequency when he was on climb through the low sector frequencies airspace).
As Un-Common says, make a call and find out, the days of an ATC showing any favour were over years ago. Everything is recorded including the ATC's 'manipulation' of maestro.
From what I've seen so far the 76s are losing an extra 2 mins on descent doing 258kts econ speed. Depending on the number of aircraft in the sequence, being at a feeder point 2 minutes later can push you back by 5 or 6 aircraft, delaying you by a further 10 minutes.
Cut and paste Kornoleo's 'non-pilot puke' description here.
You've got to wonder when in an effort to save gas and money these measures end up costing you twice or three times as much. To be making those sorts of speed decisions you need a radar and maestro feed in front of you. I shakes me head as well mate.
Possible solution:
'Centre, qf453, speed on descent 258kts unless it changes our spot in the sequence'
ATC can then squizz maestro and let you know.
Cheers,
