Originally Posted by tev9999
Was on a NW DC-9 with power back a few weeks ago at DTW. I thought it was odd as I thought they stopped it due to extra fuel burn ($$$$). It could have been because we were running a little late and they didn't want to wait for a push.
Pushes seem much more common.
This is standard practice at DTW. It is because though it takes more fuel, it means they do not have to have as many (expensive) push vehicles as they would otherwise.