Date: 201812
Local time of day: 0001-0600
Location: OGG.Airport, HI
Flight conditions: VMC
Light: Dawn
Aircraft: B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operator: Air Carrier
Operating under: Part 121
Flight plan: IFR
Mission: Cargo / Freight / Delivery
Flight phase: Taxi
Airspace: Class C OGG
ATC / advisory: TRACON HCF
Reporter organization: Air Carrier
Reporter function: Pilot Flying; Captain
Reporter qualification: Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Human factors: Communication Breakdown
Anomaly: ATC Issue All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Detector: Person Flight Crew
When detected: Taxi
Result: Flight Crew Requested ATC Assistance / Clarification
Contributing factors: Procedure; Human Factors; Environment - Non Weather Related; Company Policy
Primary problem: Company Policy

Narrative: We were number one for departure; holding short of the runway three minutes before the Tower opens. The First Officer contacted TRACON to request a departure clearance. The TRACON controller said that we would need to contact Tower for our clearance. The First Officer switched over to Tower frequency and requested our clearance with them. There was no answer because the Tower wasn't open. The First Officer contacted the same TRACON controller again and explained that we attempted contact with the Tower but the Tower wasn't open yet and that we were again requesting departure clearance. The Controller replied in an irritated tone that the Tower would be opening in 2 minutes and to contact them instead for clearance.The First Officer reiterated that we were ready to depart and asked again for our clearance. In a more irritated tone; the Controller rattled off our clearance and gave us a 1 minute clearance void time. In the controller's radio transmission there was a lot of extraneous noise in the background coming from their radio. I couldn't quite make out what the sounds were but to me it almost sounded like a car 'open door' chime. As we powered up to start taking the active runway; the First Officer explained to the controller that there was a lot of noise in their radio transmission and queried them to repeat the squawk code. Instead of providing our squawk code as requested; the Controller insisted in an annoyed tone 'you will need to contact Tower for your clearance.' The First Officer responded that we were already on the active runway and that we had already been released for departure and that all we needed was for them to confirm our squawk code. They stated in an aggravated tone that we didn't have clearance to depart because we hadn't repeated back our clearance (which is what the First Officer was in the process of doing as he was attempting to clarify the squawk code so he could repeat it back in full). ATC again refused and once again stated that we needed to contact Tower for our clearance instead. The Tower opened within approximately 30 seconds and we were able to obtain our clearance with no issue from the Tower controller. It all seemed very unprofessional and unnecessary on TRACON Controller's part. It could have been a safety issue if other aircraft were behind us or on final approach to the airport.




Synopsis: B737 Captain reported a TRACON Controller was aggravated and acted unprofessional when requested to provide the clearance prior to tower opening.