... not withstanding accidents like swissair, my position is generally, "don't make a drama out of a crisis" i.e. if you've got a problem, don't make it a bigger one.
In my opinion the biggest problem in these kind of events is knowing exactly what your problem is - I never liked too many what ifs getting in the way of the "known facts". I think gathering information on which to make a good decision is one of the most difficult things - then there is the time available to do so.
On the QF with the problems they had they may have felt that it was a pretty sure thing that they would have gone off the end if they'd turned straight back in etc - on the other hand with fuel leaks etc ......
If they'd immediately turned back in they would have had no idea, at that stage, of the state of the aircraft and its systems and, therefore, the immediate return could have been suicidal for all sorts of reasons - don't forget we're looking at it with hindsight - in the first 10-20 minutes he had no idea what was wrong with his aircraft.