Anyone is required to adhere to a contract, I thought that was the obvious part. I apologize if I didn't clearly state this. tfjim lets remember to stay friendly and help each other, not becoming insulting to one another. Please be more tactful.

The point that I was trying to make was that airlines often exculde almost anything in their contract that can delay them. My example was a mechanical delay. If i've never read a Contract of Carriage before I would have never of found the following:

"Carrier shall not be liable or responsible for any failure or delay in operating any flight due to causes beyond the Carrier's control, including but not limited to, acts of God, governmental actions, fire, weather, mechanical difficulties <---, strikes or labor disputes or inability to obtain fuel for the flight in question."

Now thats a lot of exclusions! Anyone of these could cause a "slight delay". This was my example of how sometimes a rule can be mistaken as a requirement.