Originally Posted by
wiggy
In the UK and possibly elsewhere in Europe the lady or gent "dispatcher" (aka Turn Round Manager in some airlines) who was actually out on the ramp overseeing the loading of your flight out of, say LHR, would probably have some choice words for you if you rang him/her asking about a Oceanic re-route when you'd got to 30 west. The reason being it will have been a flight planning department that generated and issued your ETOPS plan and they won't get involved and also do not have to consulted about any in-flight re-clearance ..Accepting/planning a re-clearance is usually a DIY job for the crew using onboard assets...
While it is certainly true that the role of a flight dispatcher is somewhat different in the USA, where they have a system of so called 'shared responsibility', I hardly think any EU operator would be granted ETOPS approval without a fully qualified flight dispatch that can re-calculate an ETOPS plan based on an oceanic re-clearance if necessary. In my outfit, crews will just pop dispatch an ACARS and get an amended OFP back as soon as possible.