Commercial Fixed Wing
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Communication Breakdown
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue
General None Reported / Taken
Company Policy; Human Factors; Manuals
tl/dr XTR fuel should have been DLY fuel. DLY fuel used to add alternate. XTR fuel on release needs CA's agreement.Upon review of the release for ZZZ; I saw there was an XTR fuel of 1;700 lbs and the remarks section stated 'EXTRA FUEL PER FOM 9.300 PG 1.' I ACARSed Dispatch to ask if it was for ZZZ arrival delay. 'YES' was the answer. At the time; we had a ZZZ1 alternate and ZZZ was VFR. I was ok with the total fuel amount.During the flight; I did more review of the FOM and decided that the XTRA fuel should probably have been part of DLY/REQ fuel. Also; 'EXTRA FUEL PER FOM 9.300 PG 1' was too vague and doesn't meet that very page's requirement 'To ensure accurate flight following; the party requesting the extra fuel should provide the reason for the change.' It also requires mutual agreement.Around the same time; ZZZ1 weather went down and Dispatch amended the release to remove ZZZ1 and add ZZZ2. I conveyed to Dispatch that the departure REQ fuel should have been higher since the 1700 XTR should have been DLY fuel for FAR121.647 'Anticipated Traffic Delays.' The amended release didn't seem to include 'A recalculated or reassessed Flight Plan/OFP' per FOM 9.500 PG 3. And we probably didn't comply with FAR 121.631 since I wouldn't have borrowed from DLY/REQ fuel to add a more distant alternate.ZZZ airport's weather then went down and several aircraft went missed. We performed an autoland with no issues. However; we landed with only reserve fuel. Had we included the 1700 lbs fuel in the DLY/REQ in the original release; we would have had to borrow now 800 lbs from DLY to add the ZZZ2 alternate. I'm not comfortable taking from DLY fuel to add a more distant alternate.Don't use the phrase 'EXTRA FUEL PER FOM 9.300 PG 1' as it doesn't meet the intent of FAR 121.647 or FOM 9.300 PG 1.Don't call DLY fuel XTR. Follow FOM 9.300 PG 1 requiring mutual agreement before XTR fuel is added. Include updated fuel on the Release/Flight Plan with an amended release.
Air carrier flight crew reported an issue on how fuel was classified during a flight to an airport with known delays.