A320
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 210; Flight Crew Total 23000; Flight Crew Type 11000
Troubleshooting; Situational Awareness; Communication Breakdown
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Other / Unknown
Flight Crew Returned To Gate
Aircraft; Human Factors; Weather
Boarded the PAX at gate; full plane. It was 35 degrees [C]; very; very hot outside. The jet bridge air was taken off the plane; the main cabin door was closed; the gate agent had gone. The APU was not keeping up with cooling the plane. It was in the low 80's in the cabin. I apologized to the PAX because it was so hot. The only door open was the rear cargo pit door. I called ops and told them the plane was extremely hot and we needed to go; how much longer with the bags. I tried to call the push crew on the radio. I flashed lights; I called ops again. I finally got someone on the ground and told them we had to go that it was way too hot on the plane. By now it was in the high 80's. I made another PA and told the PAX we were trying to get going and once we started the engines it would cool off. A few more minutes passed and the APU was still not cooling the plane enough. I called ops again and told them to bring the jet bridge back and deplane the PAX right now if they couldn't push us off the gate immediately. I told them to close the rear cargo door and leave the rest of the bags behind. I insisted on them doing it immediately. NO ONE would come to let us off. They would respond to my calls by saying they were trying to get us out. I was dripping with sweat. Flight attendants were calling me to tell me how bad it was in the back and that the PAX were really hot. I called operations again and demanded that they come NOW and deplane the PAX. I had written the dispatcher quite a few times and I called him to have him call operations but he said no one ever answered the phone. No one did anything. No one brought the jetway back to deplane the PAX and the cargo door remained open. I called ops again and told them to come NOW and deplane the PAX if we couldn't push immediately. They finally closed the cargo door but the temp was still going up. We pushed right after that but when we went to start the engine the APU was putting out about 32 PSI for engine start but it dropped to 24; then 20; then 12; then went to zero PSI. I told the push crew to pull us back to the gate and to get the gate agent back to deplane the PAX that the temperature in the plane had gone up to 90 degrees. By the time someone finally came to deplane the PAX it was 96 degrees. I got up and opened the flight deck door to make another PA and there was a woman standing outside my door crying and a man standing behind her. In the end I called operations 5 to 7 times. I called dispatch and wrote him 2 or 3 times. I tried to contact the ground crew many times. I even called the [Chief Pilot].We suffered in that heat for about 26 minutes. Thank goodness no one died or had a heat stroke. Some PAX did refuse to get back on the plane when it came time to leave. There was a total lack of response from station personal. Everyone was trying to get their job done and ignored my demands. The baggage crew couldn't stop loading bags or leave bags behind so they just kept doing their job. They were totally focused on getting their job done and could not comprehend stopping. Operations didn't come to help us because they didn't want to deplane PAX after putting everyone on. So they never came. I was very clear to them about the danger of everyone sitting in an extremely hot plane but they did not understand. And they certainly didn't care about Captain's authority. So everyone just kept doing their job and ignored what could have turned into a deadly situation.
Arrived in ZZZ on an incredible hot day. Fully boarded; sat with all doors closed but one cargo door for roughly 25 minutes while waiting for 10 bags from customs. Cabin and cockpit temps reached 94 to 96. Captain instructed ground crew to leave bags and go; ground crew refused and kept saying 'a few more minutes.' Captain instructed multiple times to bring jetway back to deplane after several calls from FAs (flight attendants) regarding extreme heat and passengers complaining about passing out. APU was unable to keep up at all.No jetway driver ever came; after several calls over many minutes; and we finally had all bags; so we pushed. APU Bleed failed; returned to gate. Worked with maintenance to defer APU Bleed. Failed twice to air start cart-- no pressure. Ground crew seemed to have little idea how to operate the cart. We finally were able to deplane and hook up to ground air which cooled the cabin to the 80s (but felt cool compared to 96). Many calls made to [Maintenance Control] and Dispatch. Nobody in Ops ever answered their phone when Dispatch/ [Maintenance Control] called. Finally was able to use [another company's] air start cart. First attempt failed; lost pressure. Second attempt successful.Nobody on the ground or in ops would listen to the Captains instructions putting passengers and crew in danger; leaving us all in mid to high 90 degree heat for an extended period of time. Several passengers decided to not return with us. Crew went above and beyond to keep passengers informed about the situation.
A320 flight crew reported excessive temperatures in the cabin on the ground and communication problems with ground crew.