Oooh! This is one of my favorite topics. I
HATE hot planes. It makes people sick, behavior gets nasty, smells get worse, and it's usually just to save a few pennies (which admittedly add up, but at what cost?)
I've delayed boarding for hot planes and gotten a ton of flak from zone (and once, my supervisor) every time I've done it. Thankfully, I carry a thermometer with me so the argument is pretty short (85* with an empty cabin? Yeah, no.)
AFA (UAL FA union) has been advocating for legislation to regulate cabin temperature (there currently is none, except that the difference between the pit and cabin cant be more than 5*F). See the
CN Traveler article posted earlier this month for information about how to help aggregate data (you'll likely also need a thermometer).
Originally Posted by
LarryJ
The pilots have to be there to start the APU and run the aircraft's internal airconditioning system. Ground pre-conditioned air (PC air--the yellow hose) should have been connected providing cool air--even if not cool enough, but your description sounds like it wasn't. The problem there is it is usually the pilots who would call to have the PC air hooked up if the ramp crew had neglected to do it. I'm not sure if the F/As have a way to call for PC air or know how to do so. I'll ask on my next trip what options they have when we aren't there.
Very little. We can call Zone and the GA from the jetbridge phone, (if that station has a phone list above the phone). If there's no list, we wait for a GA so we can relay the message to zone via them (which, IME, doesn't always happen).
It gets even messier if PC air is connected but it's not enough.