Narrative:

Ground told us to 'hustle up' in order to make our flow time in one minute; void in 4. We expedited our taxi and called ready at 1R hold short and were given immediate 'cleared for takeoff' (1 minute prior to void time). We rogered the call; cleared final that traffic at approximately 3 mi was heading for the left (1L); and crossed the hold short line. As we crossed the hold short; there was an '[company]' call; which was cut short as we turned to align with 1R. I looked up to see an aircraft at approximately 500 feet and lined up for our runway. Tower called for an immediate 'go around' and around 10 seconds later; we saw the md-80 on the go. Tower cancelled our takeoff clearance; told us to 'line up and wait'. Approximately 4-5 minutes later; we were cleared for takeoff. Meeting a flow time seemed to be a causal factor in this event. We did not feel rushed at all; but did expedite our taxi speed when asked to 'hustle up'. When tower cleared us as we called 'ready for takeoff'; nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. I normally fly to hawaii where there are seldom 'flow issues'; and it seems that controllers domestically are under a lot of pressure; which can lead to mistakes.another factor was the landing traffic. As we were paralleling the runway while taxiing to the approach end of 1R; I noticed 2-3 contacts on the TCAS display in the cockpit and they all seemed to be lined up for 1L (where we had landed 1 hour before). Visually ascertaining which runway an aircraft is lined up for is not an exact science. Winds aloft; coupled vs hand flown approaches; nose to tail distance are just a few factors that can influence one's perception as to which runway is being lined up on. In normal ops; we normally have time to follow on tower frequency who's checking in; and what runway they are cleared for. Again; pressing to get a flight out to shave a minute for flow can compress the safety margins to where a tragedy could occur. Kudos to the person in the tower that recognized the situation and took corrective action.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A321 Captain reported his takeoff clearance was cancelled by ATC because of conflicting traffic.

Narrative: Ground told us to 'hustle up' in order to make our flow time in one minute; void in 4. We expedited our taxi and called ready at 1R hold short and were given immediate 'cleared for takeoff' (1 minute prior to void time). We rogered the call; cleared final that traffic at approximately 3 mi was heading for the left (1L); and crossed the hold short line. As we crossed the hold short; there was an '[company]' call; which was cut short as we turned to align with 1R. I looked up to see an aircraft at approximately 500 feet and lined up for our runway. Tower called for an immediate 'Go Around' and around 10 seconds later; we saw the MD-80 on the Go. Tower cancelled our takeoff clearance; told us to 'line up and wait'. Approximately 4-5 minutes later; we were cleared for takeoff. Meeting a flow time seemed to be a causal factor in this event. We did not feel rushed at all; but did expedite our taxi speed when asked to 'hustle up'. When Tower cleared us as we called 'ready for Takeoff'; nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. I normally fly to Hawaii where there are seldom 'flow issues'; and it seems that controllers domestically are under a lot of pressure; which can lead to mistakes.Another factor was the landing traffic. As we were paralleling the runway while taxiing to the approach end of 1R; I noticed 2-3 contacts on the TCAS display in the cockpit and they all seemed to be lined up for 1L (where we had landed 1 hour before). Visually ascertaining which runway an aircraft is lined up for is not an exact science. Winds aloft; coupled vs hand flown approaches; nose to tail distance are just a few factors that can influence one's perception as to which runway is being lined up on. In normal ops; we normally have time to follow on tower frequency who's checking in; and what runway they are cleared for. Again; pressing to get a flight out to shave a minute for flow can compress the safety margins to where a tragedy could occur. Kudos to the person in the Tower that recognized the situation and took corrective action.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.