B737 captain reported there were three company aircraft on the same frequency with similar call sign...

Attributes
ACN	1365851
Time
Date	201606
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	EWR.Airport
State Reference	NJ
Environment
Flight Conditions	IMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 240 Flight Crew Total 20100 Flight Crew Type 12000
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

Narrative:

Yesterday while flying to ewr there were three of us with similar call signs...all [my airline]. The controllers were having a tough time keeping us straight and spent a lot of time correcting themselves. During descent; one controller kept telling us to level off at 10;000 feet when we were already at 8;400 and descending to 8;000. We were sure we'd busted an altitude. We were in heavy rain and IMC; immediately stopped the descent until we could verify our clearance. After we queried the controller she apologized several times that she'd mixed up the call signs; but it wasn't her fault! When controllers are so busy this is setting us up for a major accident or violation!

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 Captain reported there were three company aircraft on the same frequency with similar call signs; which caused problems for both the flights and ATC.

Narrative: Yesterday while flying to EWR there were THREE of us with similar call signs...all [my airline]. The controllers were having a tough time keeping us straight and spent a lot of time correcting themselves. During descent; one controller kept telling us to level off at 10;000 feet when we were already at 8;400 and descending to 8;000. We were SURE we'd busted an altitude. We were in heavy rain and IMC; immediately stopped the descent until we could verify OUR clearance. After we queried the controller she apologized several times that she'd mixed up the call signs; but it WASN'T HER FAULT! When controllers are so busy this is setting us up for a MAJOR ACCIDENT or violation!

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.

B737 captain reported there were three company aircraft on the same frequency with similar call signs; which caused problems for both the flights and ATC.