Narrative:

Thunderstorms were present toward atl and an in-trail requirement of 40 NM was in place over mem. Aircraft X checked on my frequency and advised that he had been assigned mei HONIE5 atl and that he needed to go back over mem ERLIN5 atl due to weather to the southwest of atl. Aircraft X was about 60 miles behind aircraft Y and 20 miles in front of aircraft Z; if they were all going to mem (as the other two were). There was also aircraft west 65 miles behind aircraft Z. I advised the pilot he was on a tmu (traffic management unit) reroute and I would relay his request. I advised flm who called tmu; and then told me unable. I relayed this to the pilot of aircraft X. About 3 minutes later; aircraft X called again and said after talking to his dispatch that though his dispatch 'would allow us to go over mei' that he still needed to go over mem. I relayed this to flm (front line manager); who again called tmu. This time the response was 'unable due to in-trail requirements'. Aircraft X; when advised of this; asked what the 'third plan was?'; I told the pilot that there was not one at this time and I would again relay his concerns. I then spoke to flm again and after that he advised me to switch aircraft X to decod-high and that they would fix it and put aircraft X back over mem. I did so; and they did too. Recommendation; we have to listen to pilots. Weather concerns are a current focus and here we are telling a pilot to shut-up and fly the route we assigned you.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZFW Controller expressed concern regarding the unwillingness of traffic management to re-route traffic over MEM as requested by the flight crew due to weather; reporter suggesting improved response to pilots weather routing needs.

Narrative: Thunderstorms were present toward ATL and an in-trail requirement of 40 NM was in place over MEM. Aircraft X checked on my frequency and advised that he had been assigned MEI HONIE5 ATL and that he needed to go back over MEM ERLIN5 ATL due to weather to the southwest of ATL. Aircraft X was about 60 miles behind Aircraft Y and 20 miles in front of Aircraft Z; if they were all going to MEM (as the other two were). There was also Aircraft W 65 miles behind Aircraft Z. I advised the pilot he was on a TMU (Traffic Management Unit) Reroute and I would relay his request. I advised FLM who called TMU; and then told me unable. I relayed this to the pilot of Aircraft X. About 3 minutes later; Aircraft X called again and said after talking to his dispatch that though his dispatch 'would allow us to go over MEI' that he still needed to go over MEM. I relayed this to FLM (Front Line Manager); who again called TMU. This time the response was 'unable due to in-trail requirements'. Aircraft X; when advised of this; asked what the 'third plan was?'; I told the pilot that there was not one at this time and I would again relay his concerns. I then spoke to FLM again and after that he advised me to switch Aircraft X to DECOD-HIGH and that they would fix it and put Aircraft X back over MEM. I did so; and they did too. Recommendation; we have to listen to pilots. Weather concerns are a current focus and here we are telling a pilot to shut-up and fly the route we assigned you.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.