B737-300 CREW WANTS TO FLY A FUEL SAVING RTE BTWN BUF AND BWI. THE CAPT TOOK EXCEPTION FOR A DSCNT TO FL180 WHEN HE REFUSED TO FLY VICTOR AIRWAY RADIALS.

Narrative

I THOUGHT I'D SUBMIT AN ASAP RPT AS WELL AS AN IRREGULARITY RPT TO HELP GET THIS PROB FIXED. NOT SURE WHICH IS APPROPRIATE. I HAVEN'T HAD MUCH LUCK GETTING ANY ANSWERS BY CALLING DISPATCH. THEY JUST SAY 'WE'LL LOOK INTO IT.' I'VE BEEN TRYING FOR A COUPLE OF YRS NOW. MY LOW ALT CHART STATES RIGHT ON THE FRONT THAT IT'S NOT TO BE USED ABOVE FL180. I FLEW BUF TO BWI YESTERDAY. THE RELEASE RTE WAS: FLT PLAN COMPANY NUMBER T/B733/R431 BUF P0033 270 BUF..COLDE..SLT..SEG.V170.KERYN.V499.TRISH.BWI/0040A. DURING CLB AS WE APCHED FL180; I ASKED CTR TO GIVE US A DIRECT ROUTING SO WE COULD BE LEGAL. HE CLRED US DIRECT SEG DIRECT TRISH DIRECT BWI. SUPER. I THEN ASKED IF WE COULD GET A LITTLE HIGHER THAN FL270 TO SAVE SOME GAS. HE CLRED US TO FL290. EVEN MORE SUPER. WHEN HE HANDED US OFF TO THE NEXT CTLR (CAN'T REMEMBER IF HE WAS NEW YORK; BOSTON; OR WASHINGTON); AND HE SAID 'STAND BY TO COPY NEW ROUTING.' HE THEN READ US: 'AFTER SEG; V170; V499; TRISH; BWI.' I READ IT BACK AND THEN SAID THAT WE COULDN'T FLY THE VICTOR RTES BECAUSE WE WERE ABOVE FL180. HE THEN TOLD US TO DSND TO FL180. BUMMER. I HAD DIRECT ROUTING AT FL290 AND NOW I'M AT FL180 ON VICTOR RTES. SO MUCH FOR SAVING GAS. WHEN I ASKED CLRNC DELIVERY ABOUT OUR CLRNC; HE STATED THAT HE KNEW THAT IT WAS NOT LEGAL; BUT 'THAT'S HOW ACR X FILES IT EVERY DAY.' WITH 7 FLTS A DAY FROM BUF TO BWI FOR WHO KNOWS HOW MANY YRS; SURELY I'M NOT THE ONLY GUY THAT HAS COMPLAINED ABOUT A ROUTING THAT IS NOT LEGAL. (VICTOR RTES ABOVE FL180.) IT'S NOT JUST BUF/BWI EITHER. I JUST FLEW MDW TO IND AND WAS FILED VICTOR RTES. I HAD NOT PROB GETTING DIRECT THOUGH SO I DIDN'T HAVE TO FLY AS FILED. I HAVE HAD VERY LITTLE SUCCESS IN GETTING LEGAL ROUTING THAT CAN SAVE FUEL ON THE BUF TO BWI LEG. I HAVE TRIED SEVERAL TIMES TO GET DISPATCH TO CHANGE THE ROUTING; BUT HAVEN'T HAD ANY LUCK.