SD, words of wisdom. It's been a long day at the office.
Ab, of course, you're spot on. I don't operate into the US and therefore I'm not conversant with FAA rules, just CAA, JAR, or EASA or whoever's making the rules in western europe this week. I just go with the rules of my own operator, and appropiate regulatory authorites (with a good dash of common sense as well!)
I just got VERY annoyed at a newbie's posting, making 2 plus 2 into whatever he wanted to, with all sorts of underlying implications. I merely wanted to make the point that the fuel on board ANY commercial operation will have lots of different components.
The very bottom line is that the pilot in charge wasn't happy with what he was given by ATC, challenged it, took what he believed, at the time, to be appropiate action, and landed safely with all on board safe, and the airframe undamaged.