This may not apply to all airlines, or apply to today’s world, but I was watching a video on Britannia 226A crash from 1999. In the video, they mentioned that the pilots were under pressure to land, so they wouldn’t have to explain to their bosses why they landed with less than the minimum amount of fuel required.
If a plane takes off, has to abandon a landing attempt, or complete an extra go around, or has to stay in a holding pattern, or has to divert… but they land safely without incident nor issue, why would that be an issue? What else could the pilots do?
Edit to add the answer (thank you for all of the replies, everyone! I misunderstood entirely what the video was attempting to convey): There are aviation safety boards with strict rules and landing with low fuel is grounds for a report and an investigation into the flight, so the safety boards can find the root cause for why the flight did not have an adequate amount of fuel on landing. The pilots may get into trouble if the investigation finds they were at fault, but it is more geared towards safety and attributing a root cause for the issue to make a low fuel event less likely in the future.
In: 707
it costs fuel to carry fuel, so if they were allowed to airlines would send a plane off with exactly enough fuel to get to its primary and its alternate with nothing more
EASA (idk about the USA) have minimum fuel requirements that make it a legal requirement to carry enough fuel to fly for 30 minutes at 1500 feet above the destination or alternate airport
this is kinda like how a car will have a Reserve Fuel Tank, this means that even when your car says ‘i’m empty’ it has enough to get to the nearest petrol station.
you must report any dip below minimum fuel to ATC when in flight by calling ‘Mayday Fuel’ this allows the ATC to put you to the front of the queue and get you on the ground
EASA enforce this because it’s better to have a pilot get in trouble for not having enough fuel left, than it is for the plane to run out of fuel mid air
ETA. [this video](https://youtu.be/aaxzZvkQtx0) from Mentour Pilot explains it very well. if you’re interested in aviation he is a great jumping off point
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