Yeah, but that's the level filed by the ops folk and not your requested level. And what if they filed a really low level for you due to slot restrictions, but the ATCO can get you higher?
If we are at a level because of flow restrictions, how do you know that your giving a higher level is not going to cause a problem 30 minutes or 1 hour further down the line? Do you check which regulation is restricting us before removing the restriction?
We get a copy of the FPL (it is a requirement) and so we have the exact same level info as ATC do as well as ops. If the level is going to be changed at the planning stage then there are things we have to considder such as new fuel requirement, new flow restrictions at that level etc.
Regards,
DFC