Having located the guy and passed him onto the correct controller, the French controller I was working says " you have helped me so I shall now help you" and clears me direct to my entry point into the Roma FIR, a clearance that saved a great deal of dog legging.
A few years ago I helped Shannon out by relaying some messages for them to an aircraft that they'd lost comms with. Well all was done they offered to clear me through the Galway zone if I wanted a short cut, instead of the Shannon zone which I'd planned.
I told them that I wanted to stick to my original plan through the Shannon zone, and got the reply "Ok. Well you are cleared to go whichever way you want to go !"
