If you do ask the controller for a full flight plan they may be taken aback or make excuses. They might be lazy, but there are legitimate times where it's just not possible or a good time for the controller to put one in. Putting in a full flight plan requires a lot more time then just a local one. For example:
FP N12345 C172/A 110 GPT PXX00 VFR/045 GPT..4R4..MPE..MBO
vs.
N12345 C172 045 GPT MBO
Thanks for this insight. I think what puzzled me is that we were asked our type and destination. From what you indicate above, even if the intermediary airports were not put in, at least the type should be known?
I myself haven't messed with XC VFR flight following since getting my IA rating (I just file IFR) so it's been about 6 or 7 years since I have done something like this so it was fun for me.
The video would have been twice as long had I not done my serious editing needs. The pilot's primary language is not English, so I had to prompt her (edited out of the video) before she keyed up what to day on several calls and there were long lags between ATC and her response which prompted second calls from ATC. Especially the touch and go where she couldn't translate touch and go to land and take off for the controller to understand what we were doing at 4r4.
I know it drove me nuts for the long pauses so I can't imagine what the controller was feeling and I know it's aviate, navigate and communicate, but we had long done the aviate and navigate!
Regarding centers, yes, it appears that centers had more substantive information between Houston and Memphis, but then Meridian approach told us at KMPE to squawk VFR have a good day when that would have been a touch and go. Would something have gotten lost between Memphis Center and Meridian approach.
On another related topic, on Flight Aware, would the first example be tracked on Flight Aware for a VFR flight following. There has been discussions on why VFR flight plans are sometimes tracked and sometimes not. We have come to the conclusion, for local codes, no tracking, but the national codes, seems to be hit and miss (more miss) so we are trying to figure out how the tracking happens on some VFR flight plans and not others.
I think (said) it's highly dependent on how the VFR flight plan is entered into the computer, some think it's dependent on the actual squawk code (national)