It is true that the PIC must use his judgement in deciding what fuel to load for his trip. It is equally true to say that, living in an imperfect world, things will not always work out the way they were expected to. To cover every eventuality would be financially impractical and would jeopardise the existance of many carriers. It too is not a competent thing to do. The question here is balance.
I believe the crux of the issue boils down to government policy. Airlines must be allowed to operate in a fiancially wise manner, taking a balanced view of the issues. Govenment policy has failed to balance the provision of redundant runway capacity in line with the growth in demand for Heathrow. REDUNDANT runway capacity is not wastage (as believed by many who do sums) but an essential part of the safety culture that we should be living in. Not only does it remove the need to pack traffic to the very limit, which itself is unwise, but it permits the allocation of a separate runway for traffic with difficulties of any kind, thereby protecting the need to keep the traffic moving. The refusal thus far to provide such capacity is negligent in my opinion and IS worthy of an MOR. It is something that we have got wrong and it must be put right, quickly. Lets hope the DETR sees sense and are smart about it.
In the interim I offer the following observation: Every evening at about 19:00 the outside line goes, it is always BA ops., re the CONC. Knowing they are always tight they obtain updated delay data and use that in their planning. (I have seen it divert without even getting into the hold.) I would hope that same data could be applied to other traffic.
As far as r/t calls are concerned: One never knows what unforseen problems you are going to encounter on the approach e.g. flaps or gear. If we get to PAN things have gone wrong and to that end I will always respond positively to a hint about fuel. At the same time, that gives you guys a responsibility to me to be wise in your planning. I don't have any problem with a captain making me aware that he is tight on fuel but remember, asking for a bit more room doesn't achieve a whole lot anyway because and extra .5 nm will be no good if the preceding bursts a tyre.
Antigua, I support your actions and thank you for a debate that can only further safety. We need to get back on the flight decks.
CJ