Scott - it IS simply a question of making sure that we DO take the right fuel! It does not make commercial sense to
always carry X00 extra kg in case we are descended 100 miles early or to
always carry x00kg in case we are held for 40 minutes or vectored for 60 miles when we probably will not, so IF we could establish the expected parameters and get those fed in to our planning systems it would be far better. As pilots we fly into different airspace every day of our working lives. You as a controller have a pretty good chance of knowing the waypoints/altitude blocks (even airway names
) and routing in your area. We generally do not, unless we are employed on regular 'bus runs' in which case it is easy.
The second issue is how these things are handled on the day. As I began, it is much easier to be given the altitude/position target at the outset than to be 'chased' for not achieving something you did not know about.
5miles - if I coud always get "expect xxx" my 'short term' problems would be over!