captjns

Let's see... The APU on the B737 consumes about 230Lbs per hour (I/A/W the P&PM) during form ground ops. So... adding about 1/2 hour to the APU usage for crew comfort during pre & post flight ops translates to about 17 gallons of additional fuel. Perhaps the airline should consider closing their doors. Or wait... reconsider bonuses for their key officers and directors... but nah, that won't ever happen.

Keep beating the crews into submission. Remember... the beating shall continue until moral improves.

Hedley

This isn't that hard. If the company provides reliable and effective ground electric/AC, shut down the APU. If their ground air is ineffective or the ground crew takes their sweet time hooking it up, burn the fuel. If they're concerned about fuel savings they can give us better tools to do so. If not, then it's not our problem, just run the APU.

WiFly

Exactly, 100%. Run the APU if it serves a purpose. Don't run the APU just to be spiteful. Burning your own house down is one hell of a strategy to stick it to management.

ImSoSuss

Everybody I know who runs the APU just to be spiteful has at least two divorces down in this lifetime.

overqualified52

Gotta love some of the morons that purposely make all the pax and crew sweat to try and pad their profit sharing checks for an extra 100 bucks . [mod edit].

WiFly

Making pax and crew sweat hurts customers, which hurts profit sharing. Folks this is simple - if you NEED the APU then run it. If you DONT NEED the APU then don't run it.

Forget MMPIs, we need IQ tests...

Furloughedboi

I genuinely can’t comprehend the pilots who think they are smarter than the people in other departments. Every major airline is constantly reminding pilots to reduce APU usage, but thankfully we have the finest pilots in the world who have done the math and figured out the bean counters are just bored and it actually doesn’t cost any money to run the APU.

we get paid a lot of money to just do what a company book says to do. It’s really not that hard. If the ground air doesn’t work, start the APU. It’s not that hard. (At my airline, we’re even supposed to write up hot ground air so they can try to fix them. I can count on one hand how many pilots I’ve seen write it up rather than just complain that the ground air sucks)

Cujo665

You mean the same bean counters that put 166 seats in the 737 instead of 150 seats costing them a 4th flight attendant with only 16 seats to fund it, and with less that 100% revenue loads it actually cost them money to add the extra 16 seats?

Mathematicians are great at saving money on paper.

I remember one major airline that had staggered gate arrival plans so they could reduce the number of ground crews and gate agents. The problem then becomes that airlines do not always run exactly at schedule. So if you were early, there was no free gate space, and if there was, there was no free ground crew to service/park you, and no agent JBD to hook up the JB. So you'd sit there with at least one engine running buring whatever profits were from that flight right out the tailpipe.

So, yes, bean counters have a place, but just like at Boeing, you can't let the bean counters run the company because that's just not how aviation works. Doors fall off, MCAS units crash planes, fuel gets wasted waiting for a gate, passengers get ****ed and you lose all repeat business..... Things like removing the TV's from the seats, then charging for wifi, reducing cabin services, altering the frequent flyer programs.... all bean counter driven and save money on paper at first, and then end up all driving customers to somebody elses airline.

Furloughedboi

We’re talking about air conditioning here, chill (pun intended). This is exactly the sort of thing professional bean counter can do. They look at the data, they see that: turn off APU = more money but burn APU = less money. It’s not rocket science or MCAS or complicated gate usage. If ground air sucks, write it up. If company cares, they fix it. If company doesn’t care, run APU and then at least there is a paper trail.

the irony is the original poster even gave an estimate of how much it costs to run the APU, and then subjectively decided “see, it’s not worth it.” Exactly what someone says when they’re not paying the bill tbh

symbian simian

(bean) counter example:
We used to taxi in single engine, without starting the APU (kill 2 after vacating or after 3 minutes for full reverse/NEO). As soon as you get to the gate ground power would be hooked up, saving an APU cycle, and some APU fuel. This worked great, until it didn't. Would sit at the gate forever waiting for power to be hooked up, burning a 1000#/hr instead of a 100#/hr, often 10 minutes because the GPU wouldn't come online, and they had to bring out a new one.
So then we started the APU after waiting for 3-5 minutes, which was almost always, so now we are still using an APU cycle, and still burning more fuel. And then a NEO ate an air conditioning hose one of our minimum wage outsourced rampers was trying to hook up before the $12M engine was shut down, wiping out any profit from SETWA for a few years at least.
All calculated by profesional bean counters.

FWIW, I start the APU as I switch the taxi light off, it is ready when I set the brake, and switch it off as soon as I see them working on ground air, if I think the air is likely to keep the cabin cool (LAS in the summer, always APU). Every time I get to the plane I will check/ask for air, see if it works, if not APU on. We have an email address I use to complain about consistent issues with a specific place, always tell ops if there is an issue. 12 years at NK, have received multiple replies thanking me, but have yet to see change.

And while I am whining: First thing our rampers do after the beacon goes off is open the cargo door. This stops our pay check. The second thing they do is hook up the tow bar, because we will need that (in 45 minutes). Only after that is accomplished will they try to figure out power, and air only if requested..... It sure doesn't motivate us to do something about minimizing APU usage if you aren't paid, but still waiting 15 minutes for a JWD before we can let the pax out. Why would you not train rampers to operate the JW? We let them drive belt loaders into the aircraft every day...