ukatco_535, niteflite01 -
The pilot may not have been fibbing. I have jumpseated in quite a few planes and several of them (both Airbus and Boeing new models I think) had the ability for the expected order of frequency changes to be programmed. This is great, unless somebody isn't paying attention to what frequency change was issued by ATC. Also, I have had on more than one occasion had an aircraft change the tower freq (while still with me on app) because the button/switch had inadvertenly been bumped.
I will speak to the local A320/330/340 pool and see what they say...
URC