I can well remember in the days of IT, (Inclusive Tour), being told at various European airports to call ten minutes prior to
'fully ready' and on making that call being told by ATC to call
'fully ready', this was usually to allow partisan controllers to fit their own airlines in ahead of you!
More recently in the long haul world I can recall getting ATC clearance on the delivery frequency and being told to contact Ground. On calling ground, e.g. "xyz123 with ATC, stand xx" and the response was always, "roger xyz123 call
'fully ready' ".
C'mon chaps, time to get out more!
