A few years back, there was a story in the Chronicle about a guy who sued UA and won $1200 because his LAX-SFO flight waited on the tarmac in SFO for a gate to open up for so long that he missed his meeting. I think if the delay is clearly the airline's fualt (e.g. pilot doesn't show up for work, mechanical failure so replacement airplane has to be flown in from 1000 miles away, etc.) then you have quite a bit of leverage.

[This message has been edited by moondog (edited 05-03-2001).]