Hi DCM
I too was thinking the same as Nightstop. Thank you for such a detailed reply. If we had that kind of information flow from our companies, LGW would move a lot smoother in my opinion.
I have been thinking for a while about the ground crews sometimes not hearing the clearances and using valuable time to get repeat instructions. Rather than ensuring connection, my thought was that the tug drivers very often are unaware of our call sign and as such, are not mindfully tuned in to hear the pushback request from the GMC frequency. Would it be worth reiterating the stand number at the start of the push clearance so the tug driver has a chance of picking up the clearance? Not sure how these things get changed, but just a thought.
I appreciate your frustration at the continued remote hold requests. From our perspective, we get a lot of flak from the company asking why we didn't request it, and so to have it on the ATIS actually gives us a get-out-of-jail-free card.
Thanks again for your explanations