Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Situational Awareness
ATC Issue All Types; Deviation - Speed All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter Unstabilized Approach
Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance; Flight Crew Became Reoriented; Flight Crew Executed Go Around / Missed Approach; General Maintenance Action
Human Factors; Procedure
This event occurred on a go around. Because the aircraft speed was higher than normal during the initiation of the go around; there was a smaller window to retract the gear. The gear speed limitation was exceeded.This go around was initiated because of an unstable approach. Factors were a change in the arrival runway at the last minute; ATC assigning us 310 knots or better on the arrival; and a tailwind before turning final. [This could have been avoided with] better planning on the arrival to slow and descend; asking ATC for a vector for more space; aborting the approach earlier before go around is needed; and better go around planning.
We were high and I extended the speed brakes. We were instructed to join the localizer. We joined the localizer and discussed the possibility/probability of a go around. [The First Officer] called go around and I initiated thrust levers to TOGA. I initiated a soft go around by bringing the thrust levers to climb. There was momentary confusion with which go around was being conducted combined with instructions from Tower. The autopilot disengaged at some point and the airspeed increased before the gear was fully retracted. The auto thrust also disengaged. We noticed the L/G GEAR DOOR NOT UPLOCKED ECAM but still were not slowed down and at the heading and altitude given by Tower. Once on speed heading and attitude I put auto throttles and autopilot back on. [The FO] ran the ECAM and looked it up in the QRH. We discussed what we saw. I gave him the aircraft and radio and called the flight attendants to let them know what happened and that we were coming back to land. [The FO] and I discussed what we saw on the ECAM and that we were comfortable to continue to land.I landed uneventfully and talked to maintenance after we were parked at the gate. There was confusion about which direction controllers were having the aircraft land. There was some communication confusion about the type of go around we implemented combined with the AP and auto thrust disengagement. There was a communication lag with Tower. [Some things that could help would be:]-	Being more proactive with controllers at that time of the night/morning.-	Reviewing the new soft go around procedure versus the full go around procedure.-	Saying more loudly and clearly when either pilot notices the autopilot or auto throttle disengaged.
A321 flight crew reported exceeding the landing gear retract speed limit on a go around.