Thanks Evilroy hadn't read that.
Changes things as i knew them a bit but planning coastal would have I believe changed more. I accept that the pilot did not do well, in fact he should have been selling life insurance IMHO, not doing an NVMC (so-called but really IFR) flight that night, however the odds might have just stayed his way had he been allowed to flight plan coastal. That's the point I think. Moving the rhetoric aside, the question is, "Should someone planning the same trip tonight be entitled to flight plan, and expect, clearance coastal?"
My opinion is "yes"