"should be reflected upon when considering how long is too long to hold following a serious failure with a serious fuel leak."
My experience in Airline/Airbus flying is that the industry is to focused on completing drills and checklists even with a red LAND ASAP staring at you than just landing the jet. I have flown for airlines where you would fail a sim check by landing without checking landing distance and completing all ECAM's etc.
We are just victims of our training. Hand flown engine out is another example.