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B737 captain reported poor ATC handling for weather and saturated airspace avoidance resulted in unnecessary time and fuel burning vectors.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1605652 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201812 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1201-1800 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.Airport |
| State Reference | US |
| Environment | |
| Light | Daylight |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | B737-700 |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Cruise |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Captain Pilot Not Flying |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Multiengine |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 365 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | ATC Issue All Types Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence |
Narrative:
Per dispatch suggestion we were proceeding direct to ZZZ1 VOR before turning westbound for thunderstorm avoidance. Approximately abeam ZZZ2 and south of ZZZ3; ATC gave us a 90 degree vector to the east heading 145 degrees away from our destination of ZZZ. Our ground speed was 478 knots and we were left on that vector for about 15 minutes and east of ZZZ2 before turning us to the south. Eventually we were vectored toward ZZZ but not after burning an extra 2400 pounds of fuel. We were told it was a vector around saturated holding airspace. We were at fl 400 so I cannot understand how we could be a threat. I have never encountered such poor handling techniques from ATC. As we were leaving the frequency we heard other aircraft complaining about their fuel states. This event cost [the company] a few thousand dollars and put us 50 minutes behind from this single event. I predict that this was a junior ATC staffing problem and that they were just overwhelmed. Perhaps there could have been some senior controller oversight to prevent such problems in the future.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: B737 Captain reported poor ATC handling for weather and saturated airspace avoidance resulted in unnecessary time and fuel burning vectors.
Narrative: Per Dispatch suggestion we were proceeding direct to ZZZ1 VOR before turning westbound for thunderstorm avoidance. Approximately abeam ZZZ2 and south of ZZZ3; ATC gave us a 90 degree vector to the east heading 145 degrees away from our destination of ZZZ. Our ground speed was 478 knots and we were left on that vector for about 15 minutes and east of ZZZ2 before turning us to the south. Eventually we were vectored toward ZZZ but not after burning an extra 2400 pounds of fuel. We were told it was a vector around saturated holding airspace. We were at FL 400 so I cannot understand how we could be a threat. I have never encountered such poor handling techniques from ATC. As we were leaving the frequency we heard other aircraft complaining about their fuel states. This event cost [the company] a few thousand dollars and put us 50 minutes behind from this single event. I predict that this was a junior ATC staffing problem and that they were just overwhelmed. Perhaps there could have been some senior Controller oversight to prevent such problems in the future.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.