You are right of course, and a few hours wait isn't itself too traumatic (except for hungry children etc elsewhere in the cabin). But this was something of a straw-breaking-camels-back after a number of occasions where BA has been disinterested in customer service so I felt it made a good illustration.

My issue is not with the technicalities of the compensation rules. It's with a broader lack of interest by BA. In the olden days BA would have responded with a better personality, more concern, a desire to fix the underlying issue. Now I feel they are interested in ruling out a small payment rather than improving service.