Narrative:

Sometime prior to the fix filpz (N35 34;5 W082 03.7) ATC cleared us to descend via the FILPZ1 RNAV north transition. At the time of that clearance; the clt ATIS indicated they were landing north (we were expecting 36L). Thus we thought that to mean landing north. ATC questioned if we were on the north transition and we said yes; then later he questioned our clearance because it was apparent we were heading slightly south navigating as if landing north.there was some ambiguity as to what that clearance actually meant.....was it to descend as if landing north ...like the ATIS indicated or was it to fly the north transition. At some point ATC was asking for verification as to the clearance we were issued and subsequently gave us a heading and altitude to descend to (I believe it was 12;000 feet). At that point we were handed off to charlotte approach and the rest of the flight was uneventful.I believe the problem arose due to some non-standard phraseology from ATC. If ATC would have indicated which direction clt was landing ie... Descend via filpz 1 arrival landing south; this error would not have occurred. Other issues here were that ATIS showed landing north; but had changed to landing south which contributed to this error.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air Carrier flight crew reported being confused by a clearance to fly the FILPZ1 RNAV arrival to CLT with the north transition. The ATIS showed landing north so the crew assumed this meant to fly the transition leading to the north facing runways. The Controller meant for the crew to fly north to land south.

Narrative: Sometime prior to the fix FILPZ (N35 34;5 W082 03.7) ATC cleared us to descend via the FILPZ1 RNAV North Transition. At the time of that clearance; the CLT ATIS indicated they were landing NORTH (we were expecting 36L). Thus we thought that to mean LANDING north. ATC questioned if we were on the NORTH transition and we said yes; then later he questioned our clearance because it was apparent we were heading slightly SOUTH navigating as if landing north.There was some ambiguity as to what that clearance actually meant.....was it to descend as if landing north ...like the ATIS indicated or was it to FLY the north transition. At some point ATC was asking for verification as to the clearance we were issued and subsequently gave us a heading and altitude to descend to (I believe it was 12;000 feet). At that point we were handed off to Charlotte approach and the rest of the flight was uneventful.I believe the problem arose due to some non-standard phraseology from ATC. If ATC would have indicated which direction CLT was landing ie... Descend via FILPZ 1 arrival LANDING SOUTH; this error would not have occurred. Other issues here were that ATIS showed landing NORTH; but had changed to landing SOUTH which contributed to this error.

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.