We arrived right at the start of the evening busy period. When we checked in, the airspace infront of us looked empty as the frequency somewhat quiet. I even commented to the crew that it looked like we would get no delays. About a minute later the obviously shaky voice of a guy I work with every day pulled our speed, cut our descent off, turned us, descended us hard and put us into the hold. We then hit the hold and were taken long outbound and inflicted with more vectors and intermediate levels and rapid descents
Arriving DXB from the east
