Low cruise levels

[JoeDiamond 67]

My money would be on turbulence then. My controller buddies working the lower sectors said they were getting slammed all over the East Coast because of turb higher up, keeping crews lower. Happy passengers means more return passengers...

 

That would normally have been my guess as well but having looked at the releases for the flights in question I didn't see anything in the turbulence forecast along the route.  Typically the dispatcher will put something in the remarks section when they file us at an unusual altitude or route to indicate why they did so.  There were no remarks on any of the releases in question.  It's very possible the captain and dispatcher discussed the issue by phone prior to dispatch which would explain the lack of remarks.