Greetings from KTYS

Long time lurker....hate to make a first post negative, but quite an odd situation.

Supposed to arrive in CLT 0915..... Diverted 80 miles from airport because of storms and we didn't have enough fuel to circle. I was also a passenger on CLT to LAS last Sunday when US landed our plane in Phoenix instead of LAS because we also did not have enough fuel to circle Or withstand delay.

The generic question is whether fuel loads are being cut so close this is happening more?

As to this flight, we landed about 0915 at KTYS for fuel, then developed mechanical problem with first officer instrument panel...necessitating a flight termination. We held on Tarmac for almost 2 hours.....US couldn't get a regional jet moved out of the gate for 45 minutes.....then we deplaned. They wouldn't tell anyone whether we were getting another plane (obviously none available in Knoxville!) until everyone off plane. This meant we missed the midnight option to get a rental and drive. No TSA on duty either so you can't leave the gate.

We've been told multiple arrival times for an aircraft and are now expecting a roughly 4AM arrival for a plane to get us to Charlotte.

I'm really not angry, just a long day. I am a bit stunned at the slow pace of information....often contradicted by flight aware. US has been slow to act, slow to make decisions and slower to communicate. A closed up KTYS is not where one wants to spend the night....

But back to the fuel loads.....