Big Mach - your company seems to have a good policy regarding alternates. As far the the ZFW thing goes in BA, yes we would do the same as you if ZFW goes up take more, if it goes down take less. The problem is the practicalities of it at the time. Keeping a fueller there "just in case" the ZFW goes down is not practical. If you lose 10 tonnes - sure that is significant. If you lose 700Kg, its not worth the effort to reduce your fuel load by 100Kg - that's what BA management want and in practice no one I know does it. ZFW's are rarely modified by 10 tonnes on my fleet - might be different for the Jumbo. Its about being sensible in my view. Fiddling with fuel to the last couple of hundred kilos is largely pointless - modifiying the load by your 4 tonne example above is sensible. However, if that is a last minute change and the fuel is on (ie cargo doesn't turn up by departure time) then its a cost you have to accept.