B757 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 205; Flight Crew Total 17837; Flight Crew Type 2270
Confusion; Communication Breakdown; Situational Awareness
ATC Issue All Types; Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance; Flight Crew Requested ATC Assistance / Clarification
Procedure; Aircraft; Human Factors
We were running very late due to a broken aircraft. With our new flight planning software we can't do flight planning on ACARS so I had to go to the flight planning room at an enroute stop. I had our first release from the ACARS printer showing ZZZ as the first point on the route and; so; had an idea of what was to come. When I got our new release I noted on the first page it said 'do not accept the [NAMED] RNAV SID.' After going through the 58 pages of our 'new flight planning software' generated release I signed it and ran for the gate.  When we got our PDC; sure enough; we were cleared via the [NAMED] RNAV SID (which is illegal since we don't have GPS)!  So; I called Clearance Delivery and he said it's because your company filed you that way!  So; I called Dispatch and he got angry with me swearing he didn't file us that way. After multiple conversations and ACARS prints he told us to 'get a vector' for departure.  Clearance was adamant that they would not give us a vector departure and said it was about time after years that we stopped filing illegal SIDS; expecting ATC to fix the problem.  He explained why the high and low sectors would not allow vector departures. We were caught in a quarrel between two forces. I talked to Dispatch again; but he was unwilling to bend. Said he would talk to ATC coordinator. Went back to Clearance and he recleared us 'vectors [NAMED] SID' Do you see where this is going? I couldn't accept that as it was still an illegal clearance; the [the SID] requires GPS! Clearance and we finally came up with the idea of filing (a conventional; non GPS required) SID out to Baton Rouge and then connecting the dots after that. It wasn't perfect; but it was doable so I went back to Dispatch and; yeah; you guessed it; he was unwilling and unable to file it. Our marvelous improved flight planning software was totally inflexible and did not allow him that option. I was running out of patience; decided to bypass Dispatch; got a clearance on a usable SID to Baton Rouge--thence on course--and; only then; told Dispatch what we did.  It was somehow easier for him to [accept the reality of a negotiated fix] than to do a revised filing. There is no excuse for Dispatch to continue to file us on illegal SIDs because the new software won't allow him to do otherwise; FIX THE SYSTEM! ATC is mad at us and looking for someone to make an example of. We ended up getting our passengers to their destination very late; a disservice that didn't have to happen. I had been on sick leave for some time and it breaks my heart to see how dysfunctional our 'new airline' has become. Another quick example: The other day I left a bunch of paying passengers behind because the software would not allow the agent to reopen and board passengers even though we were sitting waiting on Maintenance.
A B757 Captain voiced his displeasure with the inability of his Dispatcher to provide him with a flight plan release that did not contain a SID for which his aircraft was not eligible due to lack of GPS navigation; the apparent stumbling block being the intransigence of the airline's recently introduced flight planning software.