eal401 I am glad that you found the remark amusing. The point that was being made was that should two transport aircraft, one departing and presumeably, not having access to the comparative prices, fairly full of fuel, land in the middle of a densely populated area - as was shown - then the probability is that the death toll would be in the hundreds. Having grown up in the vicinity of Lockerbie I was astonished and thankful that so few people there perished.
Any fatality is one too many.
The objectives of ATC begin with the words, " Expedite and maintain a safe and orderly flow ..."
BTW a question to those in TC, are you really monitored by CCTV?