Originally Posted by
CousinEddie
Th DEN guys can chime in with the latest, but certain gates have been using a procedure to get ground power plugged in very quickly upon arrival so that the APU doesn't need to be started as it normally is. The ramp controller may have been talking to an aircraft inbound to one of those gates. And yes, we can start the APU whenever we feel the need.
As a side note, 9 years of riding RJ jumpseats made it obvious to me that none of the UAX carriers cared much about fuel burn when UAL was buying the fuel. Hopefully that is changing.
As far as your opinion of the guy being unprofessional? Perhaps you wouldn't be frustrated with the predictable results of this while others would:
United Has an Operational Problem in Denver | The Cranky Flier
Good to hear about still having control of the APU (would have been astounding otherwise), it does seems like it's being very micromanaged. On the UAX side we try (and hope) to be plugged in with both power and air but it's a rare thing at certain stations unfortunately. Those RJs get hot quick in the summer.
We do care about fuel burn as much as the next guy (for me it's my tree huggin' reasons to be honest) but not to the detriment of the pax. Some guys will be quick to shut down the APU in the 200 for instance in the summer for takeoff when they are still 5 or 6 in line for takeoff. That ain't right or good for business. Now the company is trying to tell us to arrive at exactly A14 on a 30 minute turn to save fuel (or burn block) and make everyone miss their connections. Ummm...no.
As to your last point, I'm more than frustrated. DEN based and I've run out of excuses to my passengers. Things are finally getting better it seems but only until the next snow storm I reckon.