Several times in the last month, I have made the hustle to the boarding gate for my flight only to discover that the posted times on the departure board--often showing "on-time"--are incorrect. Frequently the inbound aircraft has not even arrived, yet the departure boards are still showing an on-time departure.

Last night in Dallas, for example, most flights were delayed due to thunderstorms, yet the departure boards showed my outbound flight on UA 1043 "on-time" at 10 minutes prior to the posted departure time. The gate was occupied by a flight bound for Chicago and the inbound aircraft was not scheduled to arrive until 45 minutes after the scheduled departure time.

My frustration with this sloppiness is that it is a huge inconvenience for the passenger who might be comfortably situated in the 1K Center, the Red Carpet Club, or the bar and drops whatever he/she might be doing to move to the gate for departure. It also creates an inordinate strain on the gate staff as passenger after passenger approaches to inquire why the boards are showing incorrect times and trying to get details about expected departure times.

I have raised this issue several times with gate agents who contend that it's an Operations problem and there is nothing that they can do about it. I was even told by an agent that it's not worth Operations time to update the board status. I then watched while 30 passenger approved in the next 20 minutes to ask about departure status.

Wouldn't it be a great service to the passengers and the gate staff to keep the boards updated with the best information available? Wasn't that one of the promises made in the United Commitment?