You should not depart with the full expectation of diversion at destination. Unless you have two destination alternates where a safe landing can be assumed.
I depart with the fuel I think I need to complete my trip from A to B, while during the flight checking if I can complete that trip or have to divert with 30 minutes left in tanks.
Thats why we do fuelchecks.
I know the airports I fly in, and in my part of the world there are so many suitable airports, diversion at any stage of the flight is (almost) never a problem.
If for some reason there are problems, you either take extra fuel, or decide to divert earlier. Both viable and safe options, regardless of you took extra fuel.
But carriage of extra fuel means you have extra holding for destination and therefore makes commercial sense - I thought the idea was to get pax to their intended destination wherever possible!
I never said it was wise to go with minimum fuel always. In fact, I said it would be smarter to do so, because that would safe money by not having to divert (as often).
But a commercial reason is a totally different thing than safety. The only thing I wanted to say was that taking minimum fuel in any situation does not have to be unsafe.
Our company has calculated with figures from past flights that a certain amount of fuel "extra" is needed to "assure" 99% of the flights do not have to divert to have 30 minutes remaining. That is, together with the usual required fuel, the amount they want us to take along as a minimum. The chance, and therefore the costs of diverting is taken into account by "management". So theoretically, I only have to take that amount to "be sure" I arrive at destination well within limits in 99% of the flights.
Are pilots becoming so brain washed that they cannot think for themselves - what a sorry state of affairs? The only person that decides on a final fuel figure is the Captain!
To continue the above, in 99% of the flights, the amount calculated by the computer should suffice. However, since I am a thinking captain, I do not always trust the computers and under certain circumstances I will take more.
But I will NOT take more just to be safe, I will not take 200/300KGs because it is supposed to be the right thing to do. In my company I see more people not thinking for themselves and taking a ton of extra fuel "just to be sure" then people taking minimum fuel but having thought about it.