I would say in defence of the planners that a dedicated sqn/regiment move is often (I'm careful not to say normally) planned to deposit them at the nearest airhead to home base. However, schedules to Cyprus and the Gulf often comprise all sorts of differing quantities and types of unit, filling up on an availability basis.
For dedicated tasks, provided a suitable airhead has been identified, with sufficient runway, fire cover, handling aids, opening hours, PCN etc, it will go ahead, although destinations can sometimes quibble about raising their fire cover out-of-hours. Different budgets I guess
But it's no good waiting until you're in the departure lounge then trying to blag the captain - if it's your exercise task
ask at the
planning point, which for the junior sqn planners is not 2hrs before wheels - the AT fleet plan about 3-4 months in advance and the planners don't take kindly to unnecessary changes just because units haven't got their s**t in order.
If you can justify it, ask.