When does boarding begin?
 

I am curious as to how long before the flight the boarding process begins. I am flying 757's.

About 40 minutes before departure for domestic flights.

It depends somewhat on the size of the aircraft, how full it is, and anticipated delays or even departure to leave early unless if possible, such as when bad weather is coming in, but 40 minutes is on point for most domestic mainline departures.

Boarding times will be displayed on your boarding passes. If you use Delta's mobile app and set push notifications for your flight(s), you will also be sent a pop-up message when boarding starts.

40 minutes is the rule for domestic flights, international flights on widebodies are typically 55 minutes. In my experience, if you're flying a CRJ or ERJ (regional jet), the boarding pass will say 40 minutes but actual boarding begins at 30 minutes.

For domestic flights, my experience has generally trended to an actual boarding starting at the 30 min range even though the boarding consistently states it as 40 min. I have seen this on most domestic flights beyond those operated by CRJs and ERJs.

GAs often tend to begin pre-boarding early if there are lots of wheelchair passengers booked on the flight.

IME it depends on the size of the aircraft. For domestic flights, 753 and bigger usually boards at T-40, 752/A321/or 739 boards at T-35, 738/A320 and smaller usually at T-30.

The DL app or paper BP will always show boarding at 40 mins prior to departure.

The reality is that most GA's will start boarding as soon as the Captain gives the go ahead and the Captain will give it when the FA's advise that the cabin is ready.

Boarding time almost always begins later than it states on the boarding pass. The airline will state an earlier time to ensure everybody is at the gate and ready to board when boarding actually begins to avoid delays. If boarding begins later than it states on the boarding pass, do not take this to mean that the flight is delayed (I have overheard a lot of panicked infrequent travelers worried that the flight is delayed..."my boarding pass states boarding begins at 12:15, but its 12:25 and we haven't started boarding, why are we delayed?" No reason to panic, you will still depart on time (or even early) in this scenario.

This year I've noticed most GA's start pre-boarding at the time indicated for boarding on the boarding pass. This must becoming from HQ because it's been more consistent this year than in the past, where boarding typically starts later. Anyone else notice this?

Domestically, the official boarding time is 35 prior to departure on narrowbodies and 767. Boarding passes state 40 as others have mentioned. The exact starting time is coordinated with the gate agent and the flight leader. Depending on state of the aircraft and number of special assistance passengers it may be longer or shorter.

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.

Yes, certain airports, where Delta doesn’t maintain the FIDS, flight times are manually updated or change based on the scheduled departure. Delta operated FIDS change based on the actual status of the flight in semi real time.

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.