[danielschonfeld]

That’s entirely lost in translation due to language barrier. Expecting a non American to pick up on that is futile at best.

Having that said, it’s incredible that pilots forget time and time again that as PIC they are the drivers of the airplane, not ATC.

This pilot could have easily declared an emergency and be asked to be diverted to SFO and be number 1. Deal with the ramifications later. And as we saw from American in JFK who was in a rush to get home early, nothing happens.

[KennyBlanken]

It's not as simple as that. The pilot says he knows he can do it, and doesn't want to because it will fuck up things, big time.

It would do so for everyone. Both other crews in the air, and ATC. It would generate a huge load of work for the controllers (and that can lead to fuckups)...and end up causing numerous other flights to be delayed in landing. Flights with tired crews and fuel concerns of their own.