Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Situational Awareness; Distraction; Communication Breakdown; Workload
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR; Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue
General None Reported / Taken
Company Policy; Human Factors; Procedure; Weather
Violation of FAR 91.314 CFR 91.3 Responsibility and authority of the pilot in command.(a) The pilot in command of an aircraft is directly responsible for; and is the final authority as to; the operation of that aircraft.During the preflight I saw on the Weather Channel app that there was 100% chance of thunderstorm; so I requested additional fuel for added safety; but the Dispatcher denied. I told him I reviewed the weather and I wanted more fuel as the PIC decision but he still refused when we could have taken the requested fuel within the limitation of the aircraft and without violating the FAR and still be able to use the Flex takeoff. He gave us only 700 lbs of extra fuel for a 3 hr 15 min planned flight into IMC and potential TS situation. This is not even enough to execute a single go-around in an E175. We landed at 4850 lbs of fuel even after a significant short cut; and that was only 351 lbs more than the minimum diversion fuel.The dispatcher should know who the PIC is in the operation of the flight. It is not him; but the captain of the aircraft. If the captain request something for the interest of the safety of the flight that he is conducting; the dispatcher should cooperate with the captain as long as the request is within the limitation of the aircraft and within the boundaries of the law. This dispatcher was making the PIC decision and expected the captain to follow.
EMB-175 Captain reported his Dispatcher refused his request for additional fuel in violation of FAR 91.3. The Captain requested additional fuel because he believed weather at his destination airport would be worse than forecasted.