Sorry "aviatorhi"...but you've got it all wrong, and have no apparent understand of Commander's authority and responsibility....
Read the preamble to any MEL (if you know what that is), and any operator's OM-A, or equivilent, it is the sole decision of the commander to accept any airplane for any flight
This case however, reeks of "job action"...no person I know would attempt to start the APU after an auto-shutdown without ground power available, one runs the risk of depleting the batteries....
And if the media reports are accurate, the subsequent PA's to the pax were certainly out of order,
But you're first assertion Mr/Ms "aviatorhi" is most incorrect....