[AdrianB1]

If they went to burn the fuel, going somewhere and returning is easier than circling for 4 hours.

[FabHK]

No.

1. You would not want to ascend to flight level 360 (particularly with a damaged plane).

2. You would not want to leave the vicinity of an airport (particularly with a damaged plane).

[pbhjpbhj]

Easier, but more dangerous; surely not protocol.

[angry_octet]

You would prefer to stay near an airport, rather than far away over the sea.

[sokoloff]

And you would want to stay at low altitude, where you can burn the fuel much, much faster as well as divert more quickly if anything went south.

Nothing gets better at FL360 in this situation if your intention all along was to divert.