While it's very interesting to read about your saga, and I'm glad it worked out pretty much ok in the end, I'm not exactly sure why we need a new thread about the subject...
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...ue-irrops.html
Originally Posted by
mikebg
All in all, an annoying saga, which was probably the result of the pilot not taking the advance weather reports into consideration and so not loading enough fuel at the outset - the Americans on the plane were very surprised at this, and I guess they are pretty familiar with these scenarios.
How can you blame the pilot with absolutely zero information? Do you have an ATPL? Are you qualified on A321 load and balance?
If your A321 was anywhere near fully loaded there is only so much extra fuel you can take before you end up being limited by the max landing weight if you don't use it. Although AWE crews aren't quite as well known as AAL crews for being extra cautious, both will tend to carry fairly good reserves on top of the minumum required particularly when there is winter weather well forecast as it was last week.