Originally Posted by
Often1
Not uncommon. As others note it takes time to find empty trucks, divert them to an overweight aircraft and take care not to louse up the fueling schedule for the other aircraft. Unless someone has facts which suggest that there was an empty truck available earlier, I would suggest that commercial aviation operations aren't quite as simplistic as some think (or don't).
Quite true. There are tons of behind-the-scenes things that few people have a clue about. Not unlike most things that aren't in our immediate field of expertise.
FAB
Without facts, it's all speculation, but here's a little: could be that the A/C swap happened soon before, leaving little time and few resources to defuel. Often, if minimally overfilled, it's not cost-effective to defuel so we will burn it either before takeoff or while enroute, assuming the problem is overweight landing downline. Burning an extra 9,000 between SEA and SFO is not going to happen, though.
FAB