Originally Posted by
FlyUK73
In theory, you should be able to plan and submit up to 5 days in advance, but if the route is not available on the day it is beyond all but Eurocontrol's control. Many airlines use RPLs that are planned months in advance, so they must find a way around it.
Interestingly I was at a conference on flexible use of airspace and one of the airlines presented on their view. Which broadly was
.
They had accidentally created a route with a CDR2 segment in it (live at the time of the flight), however, they received a slot delay which then put them outside the CDR2 time and bang the flight plan was dropped from the system. Mad panic, ops office re-files, longer route more fuel - Oh No back to the ramp for fuel!!
Fortunately in this case the pilot had demanded a few extra tonnes of fuel so was still OK.
The formal conclusion of the presentation (remember this is a large airline presenting at a EuroControl conference to a bunch of other airlines and flightplan service providers)
NEVER EVER EVER plan a route transiting flexible use airspace. And even then as IO points out the RPL still have an amount of rework in them.