ATC altitude vs Flight Plan altitude mismatch (MSFS 2024) – Bug?

Hello Captains,

I’m experiencing an issue in MSFS 2024 where the ATC-assigned altitude is different from the altitude shown in the flight plan.

If I follow the FLP altitude, the ATC keeps telling me to climb back to a higher altitude, even though the FLP shows I should be descending.

This doesn’t feel right, because if I follow ATC’s higher altitude, the descent later becomes extremely steep and unrealistic—almost like a kamikaze dive to the runway :sweat_smile:

Is this a bug, or am I missing something?

Has anyone else experienced this, and how do you handle it?

Also, I don’t know if any similar thread has been posted before—if yes, please link this there.