B767 CAPT REPORTS CONFUSION OVER TRANSITION ALTITUDE AND TRANSITION LEVEL; CAUSING ALT DEV AT 6000 FEET DEPARTING EGLL.

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IN 30 YRS OF DOMESTIC FLYING; I'VE NEVER BEEN TOLD TO CLB TO 18000 FT...IT'S ALWAYS CLB TO FL180. LIKEWISE; IN A DSCNT; IT'S DSNDED TO FL180 AS LONG AS THE LCL ALTIMETER IS GREATER THAN OR EQUAL TO 29.92. IT WOULD APPEAR THAT US CTLRS ARE NOT USING TRANSITION ALT CORRECTLY IN REGARDS TO THE PROC HANDBOOK; BUT US CTLRS ARE CORRECT ACCORDING TO AIM. MOST PLTS KNOW THE AIM A LOT BETTER THAN WE KNOW ATC PUBS. EUROPEAN COMMERCIAL CHART; ATC; PAGE 110 DEFINES TRANSITION ALT AS 'THE ALT AT OR BELOW WHICH THE VERT POS OF AN ACFT IS CTLED BY REF TO ALTS.' TRANSITION LEVEL IS DEFINED AS 'THE LOWEST FL AVAILABLE FOR USE ABOVE THE TRANSITION ALT.' AS AN EXAMPLE; LONDON HEATHROW (LHR) SHOWS TRANS LEVEL BY ATC AND TRANS ALT AT 6000 FT. FOR THOSE OF US WITH AN EXTENSIVE BACKGROUND OF US FLYING; IF WE DEPARTED LHR; AND WOULD RESET OUR ALTIMETERS TO 29.92 AT 6000 FT IN A CLB. AGAIN; BASED ON THE US CTLRS USE OF FL180 AND NOT 18000 FT; IF WE WERE CLBING TO 6000 FT OUT OF LHR; WE WOULD RESET OUR ALTIMETERS TO 29.92 AND WE WOULD BE WRONG. OF THE 14 DEPS AT LHR; 12 HAVE A MAX ALT LIMIT OF 6000 FT. WE WERE GIVEN ONE OF THOSE DEPS AND WERE CONFUSED AS TO WHETHER WE SHOULD RESET OUR ALTIMETERS TO 29.92 AT 6000 FT FOR THE LEVELOFF. WE DID AND WERE PROMPTLY TOLD BY DEP CTL TO RETURN TO THE LCL ALTIMETER SETTING. BASED ON OUR PAST US EXPERIENCE; YOU CAN UNDERSTAND OUR CONFUSION. I HAVE 2 GOALS WITH THIS RPT. FIRST; CAN'T WE PUT A NOTE ON THE CHART PAGES TO FIX THIS PROB IN THE FUTURE? I SUGGEST THIS: 'DEP ALTIMETERS: DO NOT RESET ALTIMETERS TO 29.92 UNTIL ABOVE 6000 FT. AT 6000 FT MAINTAIN LCL ALTIMETER SETTING.' MY SECOND GOAL IS TO BRING THE APPARENT CONFLICT IN US PROCS AND MANUALS TO YOUR ATTN SO THAT THESE CONFLICTS CAN BE RESOLVED. I MOST LIKELY WILL NOT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE IN THE FUTURE; BUT WHAT ABOUT ALL THOSE THAT FOLLOW IN MY FOOTSTEPS?