Originally Posted by aa73

Not flame bait, just agreeing with the fact that it's SAD that a crew has to declare an emergency to get a NY controller to switch runways just because of a dep/arr flow pattern.

You'll note I said they may have been brusque and could have been more tactful... but... the end result is that no crew should have to declare an emergency because winds are out of limits.

In the end, the CA did what he had to do to avoid an unsafe situation. Yes he could have handled it better but maybe some recent runway overruns/incidents were still fresh in his mind.

Again, I'd be curious to know why he turned left instead of flying the runway heading, if fuel wasn't even a problem. That part has left me hanging. The rest, I completely understand. You cannot let ATC fly your airplane.