A321
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Workload; Situational Awareness; Confusion
ATC Issue All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue
Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance
ATC Equipment / Nav Facility / Buildings; Airspace Structure; Company Policy; Manuals; Procedure
The new method of 'Next Gen' ATC of Time Based Flow Management is an unacceptable method of controlling aircraft. I understand this method is to prevent aircraft from holding over fixes and is to create time based spacing of aircraft inbound to a specific airport; adding a number to the bottom right of each aircraft's data block and is sector specific. We were given multiple turns and slowed over Utah. Not knowing how long a delay vector is going to be; not being told how many turns we will actually do across a course is unacceptable for the purposes of fuel planning and is therefore a safety of flight issue and causes the possibility of busting regulations regarding fuel requirements for holding; alternates etc.  Flight computers calculate a final exit time with which the crew uses to exit a hold and proceed to an alternate airport for fuel. We cannot ascertain this information by just flying over a desert in a random course. I understand the program is designed to either utilize vectors or speeds or a combination of both and changes as each aircraft passes from sector to sector. Fuel planning is tight when you're flying from coast to coast; especially in dealing with alternates and bad weather planning for crossing the country.  When we finally got back on course; we weren't minimum fuel; but we didn't have a lot to mess around with either. Had we been issued a hold; we would have been able to formulate some sort of action plan. Which is kind of what you pay us for. Please work with the FAA it's employees at ATC to realize that this method of service is unacceptable and DANGEROUS. Don't use Time Based Flow Management and fly planes all over the country in random directions. Assign holds at fixes to allow for fuel planning.
A321 First Officer reported being issued numerous delay vectors based on ATC Time Based Flow Management requirements. The pilot was concerned about not being able to plan for enough fuel.