Hi BOAC have been in the same situation in the last 2 days. Given an EAT overhead AMS (PAMPUS)inbound from ARN told to slow down and informed this will not effect our place in the queue, this sort of info is invaluble and I would say well done to London ATC.
Entered the hold at TIMBA keeping a track of fuel we were burning turns out 3 times in FULL round the hold with decents in every one we were burning 170kg each hold.
At the specified EAT we were taken out the hold and vectored downwind for 26L, most Captains I know will want between 300Kg and 500kg from the hold to start an approach, for planning we bargained on 400kg we actually used 780kg from the hold to landing and landed above reserves but vastly below planned remaining! In the event of a Go around we would be in PAN conditions, although the WX had inproved above CAT3 it was still wavering around on CAT2 limits.
Two things spring to mind and for all the ATCers out there this is not a critiscism, are airports judged by the time aircraft spend in the hold?, if so is it therefore beneficial to pull aircraft out the hold and vector them across west sussex and kent to keep this time to a minimum?
and.... when given a EAT how far can it slip??, since when planning to divert or commit the EAT is one of the variables in the equation.
Also what use is an EAT given the circumstances above do we need to plan for EAT plus 800kg to err on the safe side?
Last but not least I thought it was a great offer from the Continental 777 in the hold to swap places with a BA 737 who was on the verge of diverting! Thanks