I'm starting to dislike this whole Flight Information Service thing more and more. Not the way the controllers handle it, but the way people make use of it.
Last Saturday I was flying from Rotterdam to Duxford, talking to London Information all the way from the FIR boundary. The air was thick with people requesting a Flight Information Service - at some point London had five on standby waiting to pass their message. All good and well, but in the 60 minutes that I was on frequency, NOBODY actually asked for actual information related to the flight. No requests for amendments on flightplans, no requests for weather updates, ETA revisions, nothing. Only the London QNH that got passed on the initial call could be classified as "information". But it did take me five minutes before I could report coasting in over Dover, and about the same time before I could sign off with London, due to all the people passing their message.
Now I know that a FIS implies an alerting service as well, and I really do appreciate that part of the service while flying cross-channel. But I wonder how many aircraft silently switched frequency (because they could not get a word in edgewise), rendering the alerting service part of the FIS a bit moot. And due to the airwave traffic I was five minutes late in reporting "coasting in over Dover", but London did not query me about that. I also know about squawk 1177 and agree that that's very useful too. But I still think asking for a FIS, then not asking for any information and not using the alerting service bit of the FIS (by passing, revising and reporting ETAs, and London keeping a close watch on this) is a bit of a waste of everybodies energy, and valuable airwave time.
Mind you, I think London Info, if used properly, can be a real valuable resource. On the way back I used them to the fullest extent, having them open my flightplan and keeping me updated on the Dover and Ostende weather, which wasn't looking too promising before we started out (but eventually we made the crossing in near-perfect weather).
What do the London Info controllers think about this? Should we call them, pass our message, squawk 1177 and then sign off without asking for any information like we do now, even when the frequency is really busy, or should we just silently listen in on the frequency if we've got nothing to ask, while squawking 7000, particularly if it's busy with people who need the alerting service most of all (ie. cross-channel traffic). Or is there some sort of middle ground?
As an aside, has anybody ever asked an "alerting service" instead of a FIS?