slim_slag - good point. I had not mentioned this previously, but having done some flying State side, I suspect US pilots would find the need to book an approach when you pitch up at an airfield in VFR conditions unusual to say the least. In fact I wonder what their reaction would be.
Now that riase the question as to why US airports are better able to provide the service than us. I wonder is it because management sees approaches as just another revenue source, albeit that does not entirely explain the sort of policy discussed on this post, or is it because controllers in the UK are just more cautious about handling larger volumes of traffic which would not be out of the ordinary in the States. Maybe there are other reasons.