Should have declared a fuel emergency and fucked that controller well and good. These games that ATC in America plays with safety to improve throughput (read profits) need to end before we have 400 souls lost.
Absolutely not. If it's not a real fuel emergency, you don't want regulators questioning your ability as a pilot in a foreign country. If it is a real fuel emergency, you don't want to put lives at risk over a spat with ATC. Play the game, go home late, but safe, and let the internet deal with ATC and maybe Lufthansa can rethink its policies regarding SFO.
Agreed. Doing it to mess with the controller is going to get the crew and the airline in hot water.
That said, there is a fair amount of discretion on the Captain's part, and if the pilot was unable to land at Oakland for an unforeseen reason, such as an ILS malfunction at OAK, then declaring a fuel emergency sooner may be justified.
Knowing that fatigue may also be a factor, which could also result in a missed approach, and they are required to have sufficient fuel for several ILS approaches before diverting, without using their final reserves, could push them to declare a fuel emergency.
Typically, the Captain would say something along the lines of "I can only hold another 10 minutes, before declaring fuel emergency", prompting ATC to get them sequenced for approach promptly.
How safe are an extra hour around KSFO, an hour turnaround and 45 more minutes flying after a long haul flight because an ATC wants to feel like the unquestioned king?
I wonder how they do that. There's only one SFO-FRA flight per day flown by Lufthansa, so if a pilot gets sick, you don't want that delaying the flight and causing a rebooking headache.
I guess they have contracts for all kinds of similar contingencies. Maybe the whole Star Alliance has one for SFO, or operators of various other intercontinental flights do.
You can always continue to hold until you're into an emergency and then declare it. I mean it'll probably trash your career but it might impact the ATC too. Hooray?
