I suspect Air China will say that under industry standards it did operate its flight to schedule with just a ten-minute delay. Then it will say that even if it had arrived on the dot, the OP would still have missed the connection. That is, the "late arrival" didn't really cause the OP's difficulties.
For the OP, the relevant issue is not whether CA, AA, Beijing airport or anyone else was at fault (as long as it wasn't the OP himself of course), but rather who is liable to get him and family to MIA at the originally agreed cost and time. And AA is definitely liable for that.
Originally Posted by
hkskyline
But is there a definition of a reasonable delay? I can't imagine a 1 minute late from schedule can result in a full compensation claim.
I don't get your question in this context, but indeed I don't see how one could prove damages arising from a 1-minute delay.
OP and family reached their final ticketed destination of MIA over 24h behind schedule (delay). They spent thousands of dollars on additional air tickets, immigration fines etc. (damages).