A321
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Situational Awareness
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe
General Release Refused / Aircraft Not Accepted
Aircraft; Company Policy; Chart Or Publication
I was assigned aircraft with MEL 31-XXc applied. Navigation Display 1 was inoperative. After considering that the first third of the flight was to overfly MVFR/IFR conditions; the first hour of the flight would be spent circumnavigating thunderstorms; and then the destination was LAX; with its complex and potentially shifting approaches; I elected to refuse the aircraft in this condition. I notified the Duty Pilot and maintenance and received a different airplane. I must emphasize that once I voiced my concern everyone involved was more than happy to help me. I couldn't help but wonder why the airplane flew for four days like that. The MEL allows this to go on for 10 days. Ironically; a jump seat has to [be] repaired in two days. The only mechanism in place to get the airplane fixed promptly is for the Captain to intervene. And I understanding after going through it; it can be somewhat intimidating. It makes sense to have an MEL in place in order to recover the aircraft from to [a maintenance base] under appropriate conditions. It's certainly not acceptable to allow the aircraft pass through [a maintenance base] without repairing it. In fact; the plane passed through five opportunities for repair without being addressed.  I can see how this would evolve. The first crew gets it to [a maintenance base] and passes it off to the second crew. The second crew sees it is all legal and that the first crew flew it; so it becomes a mission hack. But we do ourselves a disservice. I think it would be constructive if one of the crews called after their flight and said: 'Hey we just flew this thing in and you need to fix it for the next crew'. I believe our company would be responsive to this. And it would save time. I also think that this MEL should have a much tighter time limit: one or two legs. That should apply to 31-XXa; b; and c. And maintenance should have a more robust tracking system in place to support our Primary Flight Displays so they get fixed. By the way; XXc allows CAT II 1200RVR with the FOs ND out.
A-321 Captain reported refusing an aircraft because a Navigation Display had been deferred inoperative for four days; even though it had passed through maintenance facility stations multiple times.