My framing here is literally based on the transcript of the conversation between the pilot and ATC.
Its pilots were following a mandatory company safety policy.
This is not true, because if it was true the pilot would already have diverted to Oakland per "mandatory" company "safety" policy when he was first told that they would not be able to accommodate his non-standard request to disrupt the twenty plus planes that were already in the queue.
It's not the ATC's fault the pilot didn't manage his plane's schedule properly.
