A B747-400 captain expressed concern regarding the logic of flight plans from a commercial flight pl...

Narrative:

Our transatlantic flight was planned normally. En route; about 4 hours into the flight; I discovered what appears to be a 'gotcha' in the commercial flight planning generated flight plan. In our training class; we discussed the fact that you can legally takeoff with less than planned fuel provided that you do no go below minto (minimum takeoff fuel). This was a re-dispatch flight plan; with an original dispatch to ZZZZ; and planned re-dispatch to ZZZ. Flight plan fuel was 195;330 [pounds] for both the intermediate destination and our intended destination. We departed with planned fuel. In this particular case; minto for ZZZ was 177;428 pounds; but minto for ZZZZ was 186;577 pounds. I would suggest that the commercially generated flight plan never print a minto for intended destination that is less than the minto for the intermediate destination.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B747-400 Captain expressed concern regarding the logic of flight plans from a commercial flight planning service that show a MINTO (Minimum Takeoff) fuel that was greater for the planned redispatch point than for the more distant intended destination.

Narrative: Our transatlantic flight was planned normally. En route; about 4 hours into the flight; I discovered what appears to be a 'gotcha' in the commercial flight planning generated flight plan. In our training class; we discussed the fact that you can legally takeoff with less than planned fuel provided that you do no go below MINTO (Minimum Takeoff fuel). This was a re-dispatch flight plan; with an original dispatch to ZZZZ; and planned re-dispatch to ZZZ. Flight plan fuel was 195;330 [LBS] for both the intermediate destination and our intended destination. We departed with planned fuel. In this particular case; MINTO for ZZZ was 177;428 LBS; but MINTO for ZZZZ was 186;577 LBS. I would suggest that the commercially generated flight plan never print a MINTO for intended destination that is less than the MINTO for the intermediate destination.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.

Attributes
ACN	949250
Time
Date	201105
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZZ.Airport
State Reference	FO
Environment
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B747-400
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Parked
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 120 Flight Crew Total 25000 Flight Crew Type 5000
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Other / Unknown Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue

A B747-400 captain expressed concern regarding the logic of flight plans from a commercial flight planning service that show a minto (minimum takeoff) fuel that was greater for the planned redispatch point than for the more distant intended destination.