Was this flight a fuel emergency? Yesterday I flew from San Diego to Boston in a commercial 737 operated by Alaska Airlines. Before landing we spent almost an hour circling. When we finally landed, many passengers were surprised to learn that we were not in Boston; we were still 90 miles / 150 km away.

The flight attendants told us the pilots had been too busy to announce the diversion. When the captain finally made an announcement on the ground, he said we had been redirected because the wait for Boston was 60 minutes and "we only had about 10 minutes of fuel left."

The cause was snow in Boston. Many flights were cancelled. However, visibility was excellent where we were and the flight was smooth. So I was surprised that we were diverted.

According to flightaware, we started circling at approximately 4pm; we were diverted at 4:48pm and landed at BDL at 5:03pm. Our scheduled arrival time was 5:06pm. (We departed on time.) 

Below is the flight path (source).

I was hoping that some people more knowledgeable than myself could help me better understand what was going on.


Does "10 minutes of fuel left" mean 10 minutes until empty or 10 minutes until it becomes urgent? I find it hard to believe that there was so little reserve fuel, especially given that we were in the air for the scheduled amount of time.
Would this situation count as a fuel emergency? Was it comparable to this incident?
How low do commercial jets normally go fuel wise? In particular, how common is it to have 10 minutes of fuel left when landing?
Can I find out more information about my flight online? I only know of flightaware. Is it possible to find ATC radio recordings?
There appears to be no emergency. The flight was diverted at 16:58 EST and landed at Bradley International Airport at 17:03 EST. The same flight on 6th Feb landed at Boston at 16:46 EST. So basically, the flight was in the air only for an extra 15 minutes, compared to the scheduled time.
According to § 121.639 Fuel supply: All domestic operations.:

No person may dispatch or take off an airplane unless it has enough fuel—
(a) To fly to the airport to which it is dispatched;
(b) Thereafter, to fly to and land at the most distant alternate airport (where required) for the airport to which dispatched; and
(c) Thereafter, to fly for 45 minutes at normal cruising fuel consumption

So basically, the pilot diverted because the holding time was another 60 minutes and that would've eaten into fuel reserves.

I think the captain meant that the aircraft had only 10 minutes of fuel till he had to dip into reserves (or fly the alternate- it depends) and diverted because of the 60 minute waiting time. He could've been more clear though.

The pilot would've declared a fuel emergency if there was one. So, I think there was none.

Its quite uncommon for aircraft to land on 10 minutes of reserve fuel, though it has happened. In fact, some aircraft have run out of fuel.

You can find details about the ATC in liveatc's audio archives.