Of course this is Monday morning quaterbacking by all, and the captain got the jet on the ground at the destination, without bending metal or hurting anyone. But just a couple of inquiries of the crew might be forthcoming.
How did the captain allow himself to be put into such a low fuel state to begin with?
If the winds had been acceptable, what would his actions have been had he do a go-around because of......?
From the controllers perspective, the tape available says something to the effect, if......then....we will declare an emergency. What is the controller to do with that information? Is he to move everyone out of the way because someone "might" declare an emergency. And once he did, from the tape, it didn't sound too definitive. No ambiguity....Pan Pan, Pan Pan, Pan Pan, AAL 2 Hvy or even Mayday, Mayday, Mayday.....any ambiguity there? Gets everyone's attention. It sounded like the controller didn't quite understand that the emergency has been declared. We all know the msg has to be sent and received (understood).
What was his block in fuel? When the reports go in, best to be showing less or very close than a final reserve or whatever AA calls it.
And finally, the captain used his emergency authority...fine, no arguement there. Gusting to 35 is certainly within the capabilities of the 767, even if the limitation was exceeded. Could he have not landed the aircraft using his "emergency" authority with the crosswind? If I recall the aircraft can land in a crab or with just a slight cross control with the crab. So in which case did he put his aircraft in greater jeopardy? Landing outside of the limits by a few knots or continuing to fly in an "emergency" situation where he was quite close to running out of fuel?
This is all for discussion and probably some questions the crew will have to answer. The "box" was there for the crew to crawl into or not, and it appears they just might have. Tough call by the captain and he did get the plane safely on the ground. But it will be interesting what is taking place behind the scenes now.