To answer Muttley crew, and assuming you mean you get a direct routing to LOVOL/UKRIM followed by a vector away from that point...
If you're going BUBIN-LOVOL or DESDI-UKRIM, it can often be to deconflict you with the downwind. Sometimes there's also an element of "suck it and see". If you're keeping the speed up when we can make you number one, you'll continue to the FACF. If, on the other hand, you have NOT been given a cancellation of speed restrictions and we intended to put you, say number 4, and in fact you're still grounding 350kts+, we may well vector you off that track rather than pulling your speed way back.
As for being 70nm from touchdown at 10,000 ft, that seems like poor descent planning... There also times when it might be useful though! The airspace doesn't always allow for constant descent profiles thanks to arrivals coming from 4 possible directions and departures going out of 5 gates (MIADA and MAXMO are both arrival and departure gates) with a lot of crossing tracks.
On a more general point, our flow control tools are limited. It's the guy in the co-ordinator's seat at Dubai and the guys at the centre who answer the phone! We're not permitted to issue crossing times at DESDI and BUBIN - just to issue an in-trail spacing requirement to the centre. We can sometimes "reach out and touch someone", offering direct FACF and high speed to the centre for individual aircraft, though we're not technically permitted to co-ordinate for individual aircraft (go figure...).
Perhaps the best thing a pilot can do to help him/herself and others, both ATC and other crews, is let us know if you have to slam on the breaks ahead of time. If direct LOVOL/UKRIM will give you descent problems, TELL US YOU'D RATHER FLY THE STAR.
We always want to get you on the ground, safely and as expeditiously as possible, and certainly there is a range of experience and ability levels in any ATC unit which can effect how efficiently we do that, but please never doubt that as controllers, we want to give you the best service we can offer given the equipment, airspace and support at our disposal.
