EMB ERJ 170/175 ER/LR
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument
Communication Breakdown; Time Pressure
ATC Issue All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance; Flight Crew Requested ATC Assistance / Clarification
Human Factors; Procedure
Upon arrival for ZZZ; my FO (First Officer) and I had prepared for a landing to the south based on current winds and the recent ATIS report calling for landings on XXR; XXC; and XXL. We were on the ZZZZZ arrival. Prior to ZZZZZ; we were instructed to contact Approach while descending to ZZZZZ where we planned to cross at the RNAV assigned altitude of between 16;000 and 14;000. This was a normal descent for an arrival to the south. However; when checking in with Approach; the Controller MISTAKENLY instructed us to plan for a 'landing to the north.' This required us to rush re-loading the FMS for only one more fix ahead of us at ZZZZZ1 which also required a crossing at 10;000 ft.; and a mere 6-7 miles ahead of us; along with an abrupt slow down to 230 kts.After abruptly reloading the arrival and the new runway; we were instructed to contact a new Approach Controller where we were promptly instructed to expect a landing to the south! At this point; I alerted the new Controller that we would not have time to re-load the FMS in time to avoid passing through the new fixes and altitudes that belonged to the original arrival and promptly asked for a vector for time to work it out. He instructed me to descend to an altitude of 8;000; and provided me a vector for downwind to XXR where we concluded the arrival and approach with vectors and assigned altitudes without further incident.It is clear that the Controller we originally spoke with was in error to tell us to expect a landing to the north. On this particular arrival; the difference in altitudes and airspeeds are significant in a compressed amount of space and time. A small error in instruction to the north versus the south arrival; and at the last minute before arriving at one fix versus the other could have led a less experienced crew to violate altitudes; airspeeds and specific waypoints on one arrival versus the other. My suggestion is to please help this Approach Personnel understand the significant difficulty and unreasonable time compression to the aircrew that a small misspeak can cause.
EMB-175 Captain reported reprogramming the FMS several times after being issued ATC instructions to expect a landing runway different from what ATIS reported; then being issued opposite runway instructions by the next Controller.