And US pilots over here always acknowledge clearnaces/freq changes w/o exception??
There are 'good' and 'bad' pilots on both sides of the atlantic, and often good reasons for crews to act in a way that may appear 'unprofessional' to a self-confessed wannabe.
LB, your sarcastic specualtion serves no purpose other than to ignite a US-UK slanging match - hardly professional!
lymanm - maybe the A330 crew were not being condescending, but just not expecting a Cessna to be in front of them at the hold (One of the things that really winds ME up is observing the snootiness of some operators at their 'local' airport, be it LHR, SFD or anywhere..!).
Maybe they are used to automatic frequency changes on departure (happens a lot in Europe, but NOT in the UK!) and simply made an honest mistake. It does happen!
Judging the character of anyone, based only on your observations of a tiny piece of the big picture, and failing to appreciate that sometimes people make mistakes (It would NEVER happen to you or I, would it?), is what I would consider unprofessional.
There has been a lot of 'guess what I saw' posts on Prune recently, and whether people do it to show how great they are, or how stupid others are, doesn't really matter - it's just all a bit anal. Live and let live!
I have seen both (what I would call) unprofessional and professional behaviour all over the world, the best you can do is learn from the mistakes of others and assure yourself that you will try to do better when it's your turn. Failing that, hope that you receive the same forgiving attitude next time you don't manage to do better!
That si all, end of sermon (gets off soapbox)
------------------
...proceeding below Decision Height with CAUTION...