Date: 201502
Local time of day: 0001-0600
Location: ZZZ.Airport, US
Flight conditions: VMC
Aircraft: A319
Operator: Air Carrier
Operating under: Part 121
Flight plan: None
Mission: Passenger
Flight phase: Parked
Reporter organization: Air Carrier
Reporter function: Captain; Pilot Flying
Reporter qualification: Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Human factors: Confusion; Other / Unknown; Time Pressure; Communication Breakdown
Anomaly: Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Detector: Person Flight Crew
When detected: Pre-flight
Result: General Maintenance Action
Contributing factors: Chart Or Publication; Aircraft; Human Factors
Primary problem: Human Factors

Narrative: Because of inbound connecting passengers from MMUN; our MSP flight was delayed per [Operations]/Customer Service.  Customer Service said we had to have brake released by XA:35.  I inquired with Crew Scheduling as to why the XA:35 and what that time was based on?  I never got a firm answer why that was our go or no go time other than it was for [FAR] 117 legalities.  Just prior to boarding while walking from the back of the airplane to the front; I looked outside and noticed frost on our spoiler panels. I called Crew Scheduling and spoke with Mr. X.  I advised Mr. X that we would need to add 20 to our flight time as we would need to deice.  I asked if that effected our brake release time or would we be OK.  He asked why we needed to deice and said [Operations] would like to know why we were the only flight needing to deice and informed me that no one else was on the pad.  I advised him that the airplane was frosting up since it had been sitting for over an hour at this point in time. When did it become OK for crew scheduling to question a captain's authority about a safety of flight item such as deicing a frosted airplane?  Additionally; my very experienced First Officer (FO) agreed with my decision to deice as well as a company dead heading captain.  And; the release had remarks; 800 pounds extra fuel for [possible] deicing delays.  Leave the flight crew alone when it comes to safety and operational concerns.


Second narrative: The primary event occurred between a captain and a crew scheduler. The crew had a crew time issue that crew scheduling was aware of before the fact was presented that the captain would require deice out of DEN. Enroute icing conditions existed as a winter system moved slowly towards DEN. The majority of [Operations]; including the [Operations] manager; and all of crew scheduling began an uproar questioning the captain's motive for requiring deice. A mob mentality developed with the theme being that no one else has deiced so this captain should not have to. A phone conversation occurred between scheduling and the captain. In this phone conversation the unqualified scheduler; in an accusatory tone; said that the [Operations] wanted to know why he had to deice. The captain mentioned that there was a frost buildup on the aircraft that needed to be removed. After the call; the scheduler in a proud fashion declared that the captain was 'taken aback' that he would be asking that. There was an unnerving rejoice among the room that he would 'call out' this captain who appeared to only have safety in mind.This is a continuing trend largely among crew scheduling; and the [Operations] manager of constantly challenging and pressuring crews to accept situations that do not meet proper safety standards in the mere interest of not having to do additional work associated with having to recrew or take delays. Also the mob resorts to name-calling of those involved crews that in turn inflates the emotions to have confrontational conversations when crewmembers call back. I have on many occasions overheard conversations in crew scheduling and over to the [Operations] Manager pressuring crews to extend according to Part 117. Condescending tones and mild threats have been used to coerce crews into accepting these conditions. It is also an increasing problem as we have several new captains that would be more susceptible to these threats and pressure in order to please the company.I understand that emotions do get involved in certain situations; but there is an alarming increase in these confrontations that seemingly come from nothing.  The evening crew scheduling supervisors are also confrontational and do not handle stress well; making the transfer of important information very difficult. We have a problem with misinformation when departments constantly comment on the operation of another department; it creates confusion and also delays the transmission of relevant information. This would be difficult to remedy; there is a growing company culture of peer pressure and hostility towards crewmembers to accept extensions and other unsafe conditions to protect on time performance. There may have to be retraining throughout the department and the heads of these departments to curb this trend.  Only speaking on the evening shift crew schedulers; they all seem overwhelmed; especially the supervisors.  Their stress then transfers over to the rest of the department.  Perhaps they need to be replaced by people that can handle stress in a more appropriate manner.  It should probably all begin with making the departments aware of the situation and go from there.


Synopsis: An A319 Flight Crew was running behind schedule and was given a break release time in compliance with FAR Part 117. The Captain then noticed frost on the wings. He called crew scheduling to advise them. The Scheduler wanted to know why he needed to be de-iced when other departures were not being de-iced.