The posts here by well-meaning passengers are broadly similar to me appearing on a website for heart surgeons. I would then make clear and certain medical judgements on the basis that I have been anaesthetised previously and thereafter operated on by a number of excellent surgeons several times before in my life! In a nutshell, delighted as we are to have non-professionals observe our discussions, this is a subject that they are totally unqualified to participate in.
Regarding the words of SeniorDispatcher, they are most unfortunate and reveal a great deal about his/her misunderstanding as to their relative position to the Captain of the aircraft. There is no doubt that dispatchers are great people who know considerably more than most pilots on a whole host of ground-related matters in aviation. However, when it comes to fuel policy there is only one person who should be able to make that decision - that is the Captain of the aircraft.
I am aware that Dispatchers in the States have a career structure that simply does not exist to the same extent here in Europe. They do Universty-type courses that include all sorts of things like fuel planning which our dispatchers do not do. However, a new First Officer does the equivalent of that, but then has to do years as an apprentice before becoming a Captain himself and gaining the final authority to decide how much fuel is required on a particular day. Why is that? It is because the Captain will have many years' experience and is able to make the correct decision based on seeing numerous situations previously which have shaped his judgement of particular airports and weather conditions. No Dispatcher could ever have that experience and they are therefore not qualified in any way to decide how much fuel to load on an aircraft.
SeniorDispatcher's post should be a warning to everyone as to what would happen here in Europe if that same level of authority was given to a Dispatcher. To all those pax out there who think the Dispatchers are 'qualified' to decide fuel loads, just ask yourself this - when you next get taken into hospital to have your appendix taken out, would you feel happy if as you lay there, the doctors had to agree with the porter who has just wheeled you into the operating theatre how much anaesthetic you should have? I don't think so.