Cannot find a previous post but a few years back in MAD with BA in a cronky old 737-200 we were denied start for a Maastricht imposed slot. Luckily the ground eng was listening and spoke Spanish and it transpired that SATCO MAD was allowing immediate starts for Spanish traffic but imposing his/her own 'airfield' 10 min separation for non-Spanish which gave us a 2 hour delay. I was the only BA a/c out of 5 with working HF and it transpired that the BA ATC manager was actually IN Maastricht at that very time and in no time at all it got sorted and the SATCO 'spoken to' by M.
You can add to the pot the Malaga 'wind calm, 14 in use' event which lasts until the Spanish 'rush' from the Balearics appears when you all troop round for 32 (and vice-versa). Another was runway 18 in MAD, 'take up the hold number 5 for the approach' to find after much Spanish chat on frequency and 20 minutes holding I was number 9.
I have a sneaking admiration for the way other countries do it, but as we ALWAYS play fair in the UK it hurts
