B737NG captain reported that recurring ACARS communications issues result in a loss of the primary m...

Narrative:

While at FL390 I noticed ACARS 'no comm' message. We were starting to prepare for an arrival into den with significant weather on the field; low visibilities and snow. We were unable to get performance weight and balance; current ATIS or gate info via ACARS. It remained that way until we parked at the gate. We were able to complete our flight using the optimum performance capable (opc) and broadcast ATIS then call in range as we did before acars.what concerns me is that earlier in the month I transited den and noticed the same loss of ACARS comm capability when approaching from the east. Going into lax I lost ACARS comm for a while during descent. And at dal; at top of descent; ACARS was unavailable until we landed. Dispatch had been trying to relay turbulence reports to us and none made it to us. As we transition to the ACARS based performance weight and balance it is appearing that ACARS is becoming more unreliable. Also we are losing our primary means of comm with dispatch. When I notice the non comm message I usually pull up the local arinc frequency to monitor as secondary comm capability with dispatch. While swapping aircraft in den; our inbound captain commented on his ACARS no comm experience. So it was not just our aircraft either.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737NG Captain reported that recurring ACARS communications issues result in a loss of the primary means of communication with Dispatch and the ability to receive vital performance data.

Narrative: While at FL390 I noticed ACARS 'NO COMM' message. We were starting to prepare for an arrival into DEN with significant weather on the field; low visibilities and snow. We were unable to get performance weight and balance; current ATIS or gate info via ACARS. It remained that way until we parked at the gate. We were able to complete our flight using the Optimum Performance Capable (OPC) and broadcast ATIS then call in range as we did before ACARs.What concerns me is that earlier in the month I transited DEN and noticed the same loss of ACARS COMM capability when approaching from the east. Going into LAX I lost ACARS COMM for a while during descent. And at DAL; at Top of Descent; ACARS was unavailable until we landed. Dispatch had been trying to relay turbulence reports to us and none made it to us. As we transition to the ACARS based performance weight and balance it is appearing that ACARS is becoming more unreliable. Also we are losing our primary means of COMM with Dispatch. When I notice the non COMM message I usually pull up the local ARINC frequency to monitor as secondary COMM capability with Dispatch. While swapping aircraft in DEN; our inbound Captain commented on his ACARS no COMM experience. So it was not just our aircraft either.

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.

Attributes
ACN	1437746
Time
Date	201704
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZDV.ARTCC
State Reference	CO
Environment
Flight Conditions	Mixed
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737 Next Generation Undifferentiated
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	ACARS
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 198 Flight Crew Type 8175
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe

B737NG captain reported that recurring ACARS communications issues result in a loss of the primary means of communication with dispatch and the ability to receive vital performance data.