Long waits after touchdown for stands are amongst my pet peeves - and if you talk to Flight Deck crew, they agree.
Because the point of air travel is to get there
quickly.
Call me biased but Zurich Airport, Singapore Airport and others recognise that.
You don't have to wait for a stand if you land early there.
For me, it's not acceptable to have a "jobsworths" attitude and say "it's your own fault for landing early".
If you want to keep passengers happy, then look after them well.
It's not proven, but it's likely there was another aircraft on the planned Etihad stand, but I doubt it was a A340-600.
So...perhaps the real questions are
1. Why was that other aircraft on stand? and/or
2. Perhaps there should be more than 2 stands capable of handling the A340-600?
Or maybe I've been spoilt by too many trips to the world's more efficient airports like HKG, SIN and ZRH...and before you think I'm a Scouser
, I'm born and bred in Stretford. NFT.