Narrative:

Our TCAS was meled. Cpdlc (controller pilot datalink communication) clearance was to climb via a SID. 19000 was the top altitude. We had a 9000 foot hold down programmed in the MCP. LNAV was armed. Tower cleared us to 'line up and wait; report the departing embraer in sight.' after takeoff; upwind in the climb; tower said 'don't turn inside the embraer; contact departure.' I'm thinking we are on a climb via clearance. Lateral and vertical path is locked in. The aircraft is about to turn; and it's going to turn inside the embraer contrary to the controller's direction. It seems to me if he wants us to do something different than the SID because of a traffic conflict; he needs to assign us a heading and/or altitude and officially relieve us from the climb via clearance. We decided to stay on SID based on our official clearance. I contacted departure and stated; '4300 climbing via the shead 1.' meanwhile; I had the embraer in sight and our courses were converging. I can't remember exactly how departure control replied; but essentially it was that the embraer traffic is 'diverging' and to maintain 6000 feet'. We were converging and if the TCAS was operable; it would at least be giving us a TA alert if not an RA.I am not sure exactly what happened with ATC in this situation. I don't know what departure the embraer was on and how it should have been appropriately handled with our departure. It just seemed the conflict was handled last-minute and not appropriately.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 First Officer reported receiving conflicting clearances from ATC; which resulted in confliction with other departing traffic.

Narrative: Our TCAS was MELed. CPDLC (Controller Pilot DataLink Communication) clearance was to climb via a SID. 19000 was the top altitude. We had a 9000 foot hold down programmed in the MCP. LNAV was armed. Tower cleared us to 'Line up and wait; report the departing Embraer in sight.' After takeoff; upwind in the climb; Tower said 'Don't turn inside the Embraer; contact Departure.' I'm thinking we are on a climb via clearance. Lateral and vertical path is locked in. The aircraft is about to turn; and it's going to turn inside the Embraer contrary to the Controller's direction. It seems to me if he wants us to do something different than the SID because of a traffic conflict; he needs to assign us a heading and/or altitude and officially relieve us from the Climb Via clearance. We decided to stay on SID based on our official clearance. I contacted Departure and stated; '4300 climbing via the SHEAD 1.' Meanwhile; I had the Embraer in sight and our courses were converging. I can't remember exactly how Departure Control replied; but essentially it was that the Embraer traffic is 'diverging' and to maintain 6000 feet'. We were converging and if the TCAS was operable; it would at least be giving us a TA alert if not an RA.I am not sure exactly what happened with ATC in this situation. I don't know what departure the Embraer was on and how it should have been appropriately handled with our departure. It just seemed the conflict was handled last-minute and not appropriately.

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.