Thanks to all those who have taken the survey so far and the constructive comments received! I have collected some interesting remarks from Q10 in the questionnaire (Has an airport's set of flight information displays struck you as performing noticeably poorly?) with some airports featuring more heavily than others!
What started me off on this thesis topic was the degree to which the displays vary between airports and even within (evidenced at LGW south!). Also I was interested in the ergonomics of the displays and if the dynamic information provided is relevant for most passengers (for example, airline logos?). While regular travellers will have few problems with inadequacies, it is the more infrequent traveller or those with visual impairments who may have more difficulty. There are some industry guidelines (IATA RP1785 and ICAO Doc 9249), but it seems these are a little outdated with some airlines petitioning for them to be updated and greater standardisation.
TSR2 and Globaliser – You comment that the quality of information is most important to you. This is a very valid point; however my thesis is dealing primarily with the displays themselves rather than the real-time system which is feeding them. I of course accept that a display which is fed with inaccurate/erroneous data is performing poorly no matter how well the flight displays are designed.
Hartington - In choosing what type on information flight information displays should include, I agree the list could be endless! An important point is that these displays are for all the travelling public and thus should be designed for the majority’s preference. I included the option for “on-board catering type (free / food for purchase)” in Q2 as many airlines are in are in state of flux as regards their in-flight catering and whether they are charging for it. Some passengers may also simply forget which type of catering service is available on their flight and may wish to eat in the departure lounge if there is no free on-board service. There is also a precedent for this with some railway stations indicating on their displays whether there will be a buffet service available on train services. Yet I agree, it is most likely that this type of information would add little for the majority of passengers and needlessly clutter displays. You also made the point about the ordering system. Yes, US airports sometimes order flights by destination (DFW springs to mind), where-as in the UK there are almost always ordered by time of departure.
DrKev – Point taken, should have included a picture of lower case in the actual question! As regards photo quality, it was often a balance between huge pictures which could have filled the screen but have taken forever to load on dial-up/slow broadband and small pictures where the text couldn’t be read but loaded fast.