JS41 CREW WAS GIVEN PUNITIVE HOLDING BECAUSE HE REFUSED REPEATED REQUESTS BY ZKC TO CLB ABOVE 10000 FT. THE ACFT PRESSURIZATION SYS WAS MEL'ED INOP. 10000 FT WAS HIS MAX PERMISSIBLE ALT.

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DURING FLT FROM JLN TO STL; OUR COMPANY FILED OUR FLT PLAN USING THE 'NON PRESSURIZED RTE' FOR ALT RESTRS. AFTER DEPARTING FROM JLN; SGF APCH CHANGED OUR ROUTING TO OUR STANDARD RTE (WHICH I AGREED TO; UNTIL I REALIZED THE ALT RESTR). I INFORMED SGF THAT WE CANNOT ACCEPT THE NEW CLRNC BECAUSE WE WERE LIMITED TO 10000 FT OR BELOW. (I TOLD THEM WE WERE UNPRESSURIZED.) AFTER A FEW MINS; SGF AGAIN STATED THAT ZKC WANTED US TO CLB TO 11000 FT AND GET ON THE ARR. AT THIS POINT; I TOLD SGF APCH THAT I WAS UNABLE TO DO THAT AND SUGGESTED THAT WE JUST CONTINUE OUR FILED RTE. SGF SAID HE WILL WORK SOMETHING OUT. AFTERWARDS; HE HAD US SWITCH TO ZKC; AND CLRED US FOR OUR FILED RTE. ONCE I SWITCHED OVER TO ZKC; ATC TOLD US THAT WHAT WE WERE DOING WAS WRONG AND GAVE US HOLDING INSTRUCTIONS AT A FIX FOR 1 HR 10 MINS. HE ALSO TOLD US TO MAINTAIN RADIO SILENCE. I WAS UNABLE TO EXPLAIN THAT WE WERE UNPRESSURIZED. (IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ON OUR ATC STRIP.) LATER ON BEFORE THE HOLDING FIX; HE SWITCHED US TO ANOTHER FREQ. (THIS CTLR JUST GAVE US DIRECT TO CONTINUE OUR FILED RTE.) FACTORS LEADING TO THIS PROB WERE: 1) ATC UNWILLINGNESS TO EXCEPT THAT WE WERE UNPRESSURIZED. 2) COMM BTWN SGF AND ZKC ABOUT OUR FLT BEING UNPRESSURIZED. 3) THIS FLT PLAN WAS USED BY OUR COMPANY FOR A LONG TIME; SO ATC SHOULDN'T HAVE HAD A PROB WITH IT. ALSO; WE FILED THE FLT PLAN AND IT WAS ACCEPTED AND WHEN DEPARTING JLN; WE WERE CLRED AS FILED. 4) ZKC HAD A PERCEPTION THAT WE DIDN'T WANT TO FLY THE STANDARD RTE. 5) LAST; IT WAS A TOTAL FAILURE IN COM BTWN MY DISPATCHER; ATC (APCH SGF AND ZKC) AND MY FLT.