Narrative:

On my preflight I noticed the snowy conditions and snow adhering to the aircraft. I then returned to the jetway where a ramp worker suggested that we didn't need deicing. I said that we did; and he replied by shaking his head and saying 'it's just blowing snow; you don't need to be deiced'. I replied by saying 'it's not your call'. From there I went into the cockpit and informed the captain about the need to be deiced and he agreed. I also told him about the ramp worker's remarks. After a few minutes went by; I went back into the jetway and asked a few other ramp workers if there was a manager on duty. They said no. I then asked why the other ramp worker didn't want to deice us. One of them replied 'don't worry about it; just go sit in your seat; we'll deice you'. I told him that we didn't need any outside pressure on deicing decisions; as the decision is up to the pilot. From there we pushed back and configured for an APU on deice procedure at the gate. Luckily we configured in time; as the deice truck approached the aircraft and began immediately deicing without checking to see that our brakes were set and that we were configured to deice; a breach of SOP. After the deice was complete the captain notified the ground crew that they should have followed sops; and we called operations on the radio to ask if a manager was on duty. Again; they said that there are never managers on duty at night in mci. From there; we taxied to the runway and took off without incident. Deice personnel should never try to pressure or argue with flight crews about deice decisions; especially when the pilot's decision airs on the side of safety. The operational pressure to save money and cut costs should not endanger winter operations procedures. This is the second time this season that deice personnel have tried to argue about our decisions. As far as beginning to deice without checking on configuration; I believe the mci ground crew may need better training when it comes to deice procedures. Deice spray being ingested into the air conditioning could have damaged the packs and the airplane; but also to the air quality in the cabin and therefore the safety of the passengers.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An EMB-175 flight crew confronted active resistance from ground deice crews who felt deicing was unnecessary. When the flight crew insisted the task was performed but contrary to SOP; subjecting the aircraft and its occupants to potential hazards.

Narrative: On my preflight I noticed the snowy conditions and snow adhering to the aircraft. I then returned to the jetway where a ramp worker suggested that we didn't need deicing. I said that we did; and he replied by shaking his head and saying 'it's just blowing snow; you don't need to be deiced'. I replied by saying 'it's not your call'. From there I went into the cockpit and informed the Captain about the need to be deiced and he agreed. I also told him about the ramp worker's remarks. After a few minutes went by; I went back into the jetway and asked a few other ramp workers if there was a manager on duty. They said no. I then asked why the other ramp worker didn't want to deice us. One of them replied 'don't worry about it; just go sit in your seat; we'll deice you'. I told him that we didn't need any outside pressure on deicing decisions; as the decision is up to the pilot. From there we pushed back and configured for an APU on deice procedure at the gate. Luckily we configured in time; as the deice truck approached the aircraft and began immediately deicing without checking to see that our brakes were set and that we were configured to deice; a breach of SOP. After the deice was complete the Captain notified the ground crew that they should have followed SOPs; and we called operations on the radio to ask if a manager was on duty. Again; they said that there are never managers on duty at night in MCI. From there; we taxied to the runway and took off without incident. Deice personnel should never try to pressure or argue with flight crews about deice decisions; especially when the pilot's decision airs on the side of safety. The operational pressure to save money and cut costs should not endanger winter operations procedures. This is the second time this season that deice personnel have tried to argue about our decisions. As far as beginning to deice without checking on configuration; I believe the MCI ground crew may need better training when it comes to deice procedures. Deice spray being ingested into the air conditioning could have damaged the PACKS and the airplane; but also to the air quality in the cabin and therefore the safety of the passengers.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.