I'm not Spanish or an atc contoller.
I was in Spain last night and we were given no short cuts and had to fly in clouds for half hour before being cleared to cruise level. (as per SID FL230). Also wasn't allowed to take off till The scheduled Off block time. I was curious to find out what the reason was and found this post. Hopefully the Spanish controllers dont go on strike!
It appears the blame on over capacity of sectors has been laid squarely on the shoulders of controllers giving direct routings and requested levels and the rule states they shouldn't do this. So for now more fuel burn and zig zagging will be the norm.
