I was into this question a decade ago and came to the conclusion that it's not really relevant to the pilots.
What I gathered from reading the sources and talking with the people who know is that PCN can be below your ACN. It's more something for the airport and that they will have damage to their runway in the long run if they allow aircraft with higher weights.
I think the Air India case was more because they worried about damages on some airports not that the PCN was too high.
Dani
Last edited by Dani; 7th April 2009 at 18:28.