In my little euro pilot world: there are 3 places where I sit back fat dumb and happy knowing that ATC has worked out a grand master plan for me…
Thank you ATCOs of: UK, Denmark, and Maastricht… rest of Europe not so much… some are almost as good as the above 3 some very far distanced…
This is never more evident than when crossing the Irish sea westbound…sadly you simply have to wonder what goes on…
Maastricht? I can tell you that if you fly east bound at high levels, the only reason you are on a direct is because Rhine Radar had organised it with them before hand. Big call.
I think the big thing that you blokes miss some times is the
thank you at the end of the readback. I can tell you it really pis ses the controllers off when you organize a huge direct for a flight, sometimes coordinating with multiple sectors, and then not even receive a "thanks for that" from the people at the pointy end of the big metal tube. Ryan air is especially bad and so I think most won't go to the effort for them unless it helps with the traffic.