Dave, weren't they telling us the same thing on Tomorrow's World when MLS was first being promoted? Complete with natty little diagrams showing aircraft arriving from all angles and all just swooping in the last minute approach.
I remember in Jeddah, inbound aircraft were often told to be at Point X by a specific time. I presumed at the time this was to smooth the flow. The truth was that frequently pilots of different airlines would talk to each other on the approach and arrange things sensibly!