I think I heard you when airborne. If you had been a low hours pilot, which you obviously were not, it could easily have turned out differently. In 20 years of flying I can't think of another instance where a ksystem has created such risk
After 18 hours of trying to get an approval and being told they were too busy, I got verbal approval. However I had to ask if I was cleared into the zone FOUR times before I got a straight answer. The quality of the controllers was abysmal
Another flight was held for 35 minutes with an approval and on time because they were too busy
Unless atlas get themselves sorted they will be literally causing more harm than they think they might prevent