Originally Posted by
MSPeconomist
Is my impression right that in some airports, the monitors show the flight as boarding at the boarding time, regardless of whether it is actually boarding or not (assumin that no significant delay has been announced) while in other places, boarding really means that it's boarding?
I'm not going to get started on my usual rant about AMS boarding meaning that passengers are admitted to a holding pen with no facilities in order to have the privilege of fighting for seats and electrical outlets and later to board in one big mess. It's more like gate goats than gate lice.
Many airports now use a third-party system for the FIDS. Those update based on scheduled information. In a few rare cases, they have actually given the wrong gate, if the gate is changed at the last minute. Some airports still have the airline operated FIDS or a mixture of both.
For example, SEA uses the thire-party system, but Alaska still has some of their own FIDS at the concourse customer service counters.