All of the above story sounds credible, but when I got the the 'glide distance' comment, I also was a bit confused.
However, I was confused at the author's questioning of the statement, as from the airline flying I've done (as a passenger), I would happily accept the implied glide ability of a B777.
In my earlier years of travelling from Perth to Sydney and back, in the old B727's, it was not uncommon to hear the engines go to flight idle around Goulburn (90nm) at 30,000ft, and even then it was not unusual to see the speed brakes come out to avoid overspeeding in the glide.
These days in the wide bodies, tending to start from closer to 40,oooft, and trying to be as efficient as possible (no wasting energy with speed brakes, no dropping below glidepath and no lowering of gear 30 miles out and 'driving' the plane toward the airport), it is not uncommon to hear the engines go back to flight idle passing Canberra (130nm) and not be touched till approaching the threshold.
As such, I would think a 125nm glide to be quite reasonable.....