5milesbaby. Interesting question. Ay my home base the arrivals all have several descent restrictions but I have never once had to comply with them all. In fact I have never seen most of them imposed. There is usually only one of the restrictions which applies and from local knowlage thats what I "plan"my descent on. Several of the arrivals have very "Draggy" restrictions which force an early descent but are only enforced in busy periods or when there is a full moon or something. Some have "Secret" restrictions which force a screaming jeesus descent to satisfy if not planned on. Confused? You should be.
While we are on the subject of wasted atc transmission time ,why do ATC insist on all these (unpublished and secret) "Twenty before Trents" and "Ten before Monty" things when the FIR is festooned with waypoints that nobody EVER uses?
Question-"Is that at our discretion?"
Answer-"Affirm" or "Negative" That wasn't really too difficult or long winded was it?