The only time I had a fuel problem in cruise, it was actually due to the FE (DC-10) who had omitted to do a dipstick check when fuelling the centre tank when the guage was U/S. We ended up at 30 west with 3.5 tons too little fuel. It only showed up when we were able to transfer the fuel.
No dead stick landing but lots of calculations to get that bird home...
FEs are sterling fellows but they can make mistakes too.