Don't get me wrong, I think that the boys and gals on duty that night did a sterling job, given the amount of traffic and I think that, on both sides, the 'experience, trust, faith and self-belief' was there in spades. I do think that this airspace is now creaking under the weight of traffic currently coming in and out and i just get a little concerned when people start alluding to the fact that 'maybe both cleared to the same level to hold' was his only option. That says, surely, that we are already too busy?
Just an aside, flew back with another guy who insisted on taking min fuel to DXB - and even found ways of cutting this back - and he justified this by saying that his diversion fuel gave him his 20 mins extra if he committed to DXB and that if he dropped below xxxx kilos then he would simply declare a PAN/MAYDAY as required and get in first! Personally I thought that he was mad but he did it anyway (nice CRM). It actually worked out fine that night but, had it been the night that i was referring to earlier, then this sort of thinking is going to screw the system big time!
I did point out to him during the approach that things could get quite interesting if the last 10 guys that he had flown with all adopted the same approach to fuel planning as he did on the same night at the same time!