A little " ...we are short of fuel.. " story for you from a London tma atc'er point of view.
About 3 years ago ended up working an EGPF - EGKK ferry flight operated by a foreign holiday airline that had to divert to EGSS, lets give it the callsign Empty Tank 36F.
Said plane had arrived at Willo to be told 5 -10 mins delay which registered the reply not enough fuel, want to divert to Stansted.
When I got the aircraft there were a couple of very anxious enquiries about delays and track miles, which were duly passed. When request for very early descent was asked , I replied that would be in X miles due to traffic 1000ft below.
Imagine my surprise when the plane starts descending of its own volition , acknowledged as their own action in later paperwork, requiring extreme avoiding action against 2 other aircraft, already given as traffic and acknowledged by Empty Tank 36F.
Me all a very big quiver starts to ask ET36F if it has a problem to get the reply we need to land at the earliest opportunity. After an ILS change at EGSS, landing accomodated and "..another happy ending.", despite a couple of RYR's been given a spin at Lorel, unthinkable 3 years ago !!
Not at one stage " Pan/Mayday ".
Allegedly, a rather large volume was tossed in the way of the crew by caa, and rightly so.
Unconfirmed reports that I was party to suggest that the aircraft landed with not enough fuel to complete half a go-around
Sitting in my comfortable ATCC it's easy to say this , but if this does change the mind of any crew thinking of cutting a fuel corner, these guys sounded more scared than the other maydays I have encountered.
Put a Full tiger in your tank !