A B757-200 FLT CREW DEVIATED FROM CIVET5 ARR TRACK INTO LAX WHEN SOCAL ISSUED A CHANGE TO THEIR CLRNC.

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ZLA TURNED US OVER ABOUT 10 MILES LATE TO SOCAL OVER GRAMM FL180. SOCAL IMMEDIATELY GAVE US REVISED ROUTING OF THE SAME CIVET5 ARR BUT WITH A LNDG ON RWY 24R. IT TOOK TWO COMMUNICATIONS FOR US TO UNDERSTAND THE NEW CLRNC. BY THIS TIME WE WERE APCHING RUSTT INTXN WHILE TRYING TO REPROGRAM RWY 24R INTO THE COMPUTER. WE WENT ABOUT 2 MILES OVER THE NORMAL TURN RADIUS BECAUSE OF THE REPROGRAMMING FOR THE TURN AT RUSTT. THERE WAS NO LOSS OF SEPARATION. ATC NOTICED OUR WIDE TURN AND GAVE US AN AMENDED ALT OF 17000 FT AND AN ASSIGNED HDG OF 270 DEGS UNTIL EVERYTHING GOT SETTLED BACK DOWN. A NORMAL LNDG THEN FOLLOWED. OUR DESIRE WOULD BE TO HAVE ZLA BE ABLE TO TELL US TO EXPECT THE N COMPLEX ON THE PREVIOUS FREQ. I UNDERSTAND THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE AT THIS TIME. THE NEXT BEST THING WOULD BE FOR APCH TO UNDERSTAND THAT WHEN WE GET A LATE TURNOVER TO THEM WITH A QUICK AMENDED CLRNC TO FOLLOW THAT THEY ARE GIVING US A SURPRISE THAT WOULD BE GREATLY MITIGATED WITH A SIMPLE INSTRUCTION TO SOME ASSIGNED HDG UNTIL WE CAN RECONFIGURE FOR THIS NEW PLAN/RWY. I WAS TOLD BY THE CHIEF PLT THAT MANY PLTS PRESTORE THE ALTERNATE RWY TO BE READY FOR JUST THIS OCCURRENCE. THAT SOUNDS GOOD AND I WILL LEARN TO GET THAT DONE FOR THE FUTURE. HOWEVER; THIS CHANGE OF CLRNC AT THIS CRITICAL TIME IS STILL A POTENTIAL PROB THAT COULD BE GREATLY RELIEVED WITH A SIMPLE HDG ASSIGNMENT TO THE SUBJECT ACFT UNTIL THEY HAVE TIME TO PROCESS THE INFO. IN THIS CASE THERE WAS ALMOST NO TIME FOR US TO REACT THE WAY WE WOULD LIKE TO DO. CTLRS HATE SURPRISES JUST AS MUCH AS PLTS DO. A LITTLE FORWARD THINKING ON THE PART OF A CTLR AND THE SIMPLE INSTRUCTION ON HOW TO INITIALLY KEEP US WHERE HE WANTS US WHILE WE ADJUST TO A SHORT NOTICE CHANGE WOULD BE VERY MUCH APPRECIATED. I KNOW WE TRY TO GIVE CTLRS AS MUCH LEAD TIME IF A CHANGE IS COMING ON OUR END OF THINGS AS WE CAN ALONG WITH ALTERNATIVES THAT WILL HELP HIM GIVE US WHAT WE NEED.SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM 702470: WE RECEIVED A TOTAL OF 4 DIFFERENT RWY ASSIGNMENTS DURING THIS APCH.