Originally Posted by
djohannw
In the case here, the flight to EWR took off and landed as planned, so it was a fully US-domestic flight that caused the delay.
Also - while the Air France case has not made that clear, OP's case presented several embarrassing circumstances that the Air France ruling will not be able to apply:
1. The offending flight was not UA, but a UA Express flight, mostly ExpressJet. And whatever this regional partner was, this partner did not, does not, and will not operate a TATL flight.
2. It is unlikely that the Bundesgerichtshof and the ECJ can and will establish jurisdiction over a U.S. domestic flight, even the ticket was covered by the EC261.
Beside - the premise of the Air France ruling is to impose penalties over the responsible airlines which resulted the delay. So when UA did not cause the delay, it was unlikely that UA would be liable.