Ludwig t M
Thanks for the endorsement but to be honest, I'm not a great fan of rushing crew either. I do accept that some in the left seat are either incapable or unwilling to use some basic common sense but campaigns such as can have a detrimental effect at times. Here's my example;
Recent flight, 5 pax down, 15 minutes before STD. Despatcher says they'll start looking for bags but will accept pax if they turn up as bags in different containers and may take time. I agree. While we wait, F/O tells me last Captain had similar situation but insisted on doors being closed at STD-3 as he didn't want delay down to him?!!
Obviously the option of loading late pax if they show now gone. Delay was 15 minutes in the end looking for offload bags. Not sure if they ever did turn up but may have been a poor decision if they had.
Fast forward to us and 4 of the 5 turn up. Immigration was the issue and the party of 4 passengers were majorly grateful for us still accepting them. Luckily, the 1st bag actually found was of the 5th person who never turned up so we pushed 10 minutes late after small ATC delay.
I know that 5 minutes difference between the two is neither here nor there and that the timing could have gone either way but the actual decision of the other Captain concerned me. His thought process was based on 'rules' and, dare I say it, fear? It's this perceived time pressure that makes some of our less experienced, or perhaps more paranoid Captains blindly follow the 'recommendations' regardless of what may be the better outcome.
So, 'First Wave' and Company pressure or weak Captains unable to use their resilience and airmanship...or maybe a combination of the two. You decide!
Harry