LAS VEGAS ARRS FOUND CONFUSING AND DIFFICULT TO USE BY B737 PLT WHO PERCEIVES THAT ATC IS ALSO HAVING DIFFICULTY USING THEM EFFECTIVELY.

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WE WERE INITIALLY CLRED J87 FOR PGS LYNDS 1 ARR INTO LAS. ON A SUBSEQUENT FREQ; WE WERE CLRED DIRECT DRK; DIRECT PGS; THEN LYNSY 1 ARR. WE WERE THEN RECLRED THE LYNDS 1 ARR; PGS TRANSITION. AFTER DRK; WE WERE TURNED TOWARDS PGS INSTEAD OF FOLLOWING THE DRK TRANSITION. THERE WAS SOME CONFUSION AS TO WHETHER WE WERE TO FOLLOW THE DRK 7 PGS TRANSITION. WELL; APPARENTLY WE WERE ON THE WRONG TRANSITION AS THE CTLR GAVE US A 'TURN 15 DEGS L OF HDG;' AND THEN EVENTUALLY BACK ON THE TRANSITION. I BELIEVE THESE LNAV ARRS; IN PARTICULAR; ARE AN ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN; BECAUSE OF SEVERAL REASONS. FIRST OF ALL; THE COMPANY HAS PROVIDED US WITH NO TRAINING ON HOW TO UTILIZE THE LNAV FOR DEP/ARRS. THE CONFUSION ON EXACTLY HOW TO FLY THEM IS TROUBLESOME. ALSO; I UNDERSTAND THAT THE FAA HAS PROVIDED VERY LITTLE OR INSIGNIFICANT TRAINING TO THE ATC FOLKS. SECOND; THERE IS NOT STANDARDIZATION IN THE PROCS; PARTICULARLY IN REGARDS TO THE VERBAL PHRASEOLOGY. ONE DAY A CERTAIN PHASE MIGHT MEAN ONE THING TO ONE CTLR; AND HAVE A DIFFERENT MEANING TO ANOTHER. AGAIN; SOUNDS LIKE A TRAINING/STANDARDIZATION ISSUE TO THE ATC FOLKS. THIRD; THERE ARE MANY 'GOTCHAS' IN THE ARRS. IN PARTICULAR ARE THE ALTS AT VARIOUS WAYPOINTS. BTWN THE HARD ALTS; THE SOFT ALTS; AT OR ABOVE; AT OR BELOW; THE 'DSND VIA' CLRNC; THERE IS MUCH CONFUSION ON BOTH THE PLT'S PART AND THE ATC CTLR'S PART ON EXACTLY WHEN THE ACFT IS LEGAL TO DSND OR NOT. OVERALL; I WOULD SAY 2 THINGS COULD SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVE THE SAFETY OF LNAV IN LAS. FIRST; THERE NEEDS TO BE BETTER TRAINING FOR PLTS AND ATC FOLKS IN HOW TO UTILIZE LNAV. SECOND; THERE NEEDS TO BE MUCH BETTER STANDARDIZATION; PARTICULARLY PHRASEOLOGY; SO EVERYBODY IS ON THE SAME PAGE.