BOAC:
I quite agree, but they have not. That is where the effort needs to be, not in RY bashing.What would be a 'level playing field' by the way?
So when I actually steer the discussion in this thread into the direction of discussing legal fuel minima you then say:
If your whole 'thrust' is about EU-OPS rules, why not start a new thread?
Do you even know what you want BOAC?
you did notice they were not flown, didn't you? Refer to mistake number 1.
Thats what I'm saying the planned route does not match the actual route which was evidently too optimistic. Thus not enough fuel was available. So I'm suggesting alternate route planning should have some slack, cause I think that in most cases the planned route won't be flown.
I think you are the one not understanding aircraft operations, its all about planning. Crap in crap out. And I think in most companies the alternate routes are just that, too optimistic. Especially on a nice day, cause what would cause diversions on a nice day: unexpected weather and airports closing for normal operations. Both likely leading to many aircraft diverting with minimum fuel.
Unless you know of a way (not involving a pan or mayday) to force ATC to let you fly the company planned diversion route, while everybody is diverting as well, you will quickly encounter a fuel pan pan or mayday in order to ensure that you do fly the planned route and land with 30min.