Narrative:

Upon check in with departure control we were told by ATC to 'climb via the SID.' I readback 'climb via SID'. Moments later ATC clarified 'climb via flyza 5 SID.' I read back 'climb via flyza 5 SID.' ATC switched us to departure around the fix ppale. We were just past ppale at about 11;700 feet. I checked in 'aircraft X passing 11;700 climbing via FLYZA5 SID.' controller then asked what altitude we were supposed to be climbing to. We said we were climbing via SID. ATC then said we need to give him our altitude we were assigned to climb to. We again said climbing via the SID as that was the clearance the previous controller gave. No altitude was ever assigned. We were climbing via the SID to the top altitude of 16;000 feet. ATC sounded confused and thought we should be level at 11;000 feet or something like that at ppale. Top altitude on this SID is 16;000 feet and crossing ppale is at or above 11;000 feet which we had complied with. We quickly queried controller and he mentioned that all that 'SID STAR stuff may work in the northeast but it doesn't work here.'I don't take issue with the side commentary but I do think if ATC is assigning climbs via a SID; they ought to know the procedures and have an idea of what our altitudes and crossing restrictions are when giving us these clearances to climb via. This particular incident and the controller's confusion led us to momentarily question if we had somehow missed an altitude or crossing restriction. It's not a good or safe feeling. I'm not sure what happened with our departure but it seems like it's possible one controller was issuing climb vias and handing off to the next controller who was either unaware of this or certainly unprepared for the climb via handoff.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 First Officer expressed concern that ATC was not sure what altitude they were climbing to.

Narrative: Upon check in with departure control we were told by ATC to 'climb via the SID.' I readback 'climb via SID'. Moments later ATC clarified 'Climb via FLYZA 5 SID.' I read back 'Climb via FLYZA 5 SID.' ATC switched us to departure around the fix PPALE. We were just past PPALE at about 11;700 feet. I checked in 'Aircraft X passing 11;700 climbing via FLYZA5 SID.' Controller then asked what altitude we were supposed to be climbing to. We said we were climbing via SID. ATC then said we need to give him our altitude we were assigned to climb to. We again said climbing via the SID as that was the clearance the previous controller gave. No altitude was ever assigned. We were climbing via the SID to the top altitude of 16;000 feet. ATC sounded confused and thought we should be level at 11;000 feet or something like that at PPALE. Top altitude on this SID is 16;000 feet and crossing PPALE is at or above 11;000 feet which we had complied with. We quickly queried controller and he mentioned that all that 'SID STAR stuff may work in the Northeast but it doesn't work here.'I don't take issue with the side commentary but I do think if ATC is assigning climbs via a SID; they ought to know the procedures and have an idea of what our altitudes and crossing restrictions are when giving us these clearances to climb via. This particular incident and the controller's confusion led us to momentarily question if we had somehow missed an altitude or crossing restriction. It's not a good or safe feeling. I'm not sure what happened with our departure but it seems like it's possible one controller was issuing climb vias and handing off to the next controller who was either unaware of this or certainly unprepared for the climb via handoff.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.