attention do nothing cargo loader driver!!!

there is an office on the 9th floor in cathay city waiting for you!!

Actually. You're out of date. It's moved to the 3 rd floor, to be close to the troops

Can’t speak for AA but CX SOP headset must be connected during refuelling.

OK - connected. But not manned.
Is it a requirement to confirm it is working i.e. comms tested before boarding?

Normally connected on arrival and used, so I guess that’s a check! Not sure there is a specific to check it per se, but it’s fairly obvious if it’s not working. A lot of the time we will start refuel before the flt deck turn up so will be talking to no one anyway 😧 not that they listen 😉

Spanner’s, if there’s nobody in the cockpit the boarding can’t start anyhow.

Friend of mine recently had a Cargo Smoke Warning during refuelling/boarding. The ground headset turned out to be u/s when he attempted to call ground to find out what was happening.
Rather awkward - what would you do?

Get up and check!

That’s what he did. He sent the FO to have a look.
But as he said afterward, no pilot likes the feeling of sitting in the cockpit staring at a potential raging fire in the belly hold while having no comms, twiddling his thumbs and waiting for somebody to come tell him WTF is happening!

Here’s a better solution.
Before boarding, make it SOP to positively check and confirm comms with the ramp via a working headset.
His company actually FORBID this because it ”wastes time” and might delay boarding!
Safety be damned. OTP is the first priority. All other priorities rescinded.