There was another post, somewhere here on FT where the inbound was more than 3 hours late. They missed the European flight and that airline made them buy a walk up ticket, although they got the discount for the return leg of their flight.
Even though they wrote to both airlines, neither airline would give them an adjustment.
It was suggested for the future that the pax choose airlines in the same alliance.
Of course, many of the heavy hitters on this board pointed out how pitifully tight the airline budget's are this year. Some suggested they should have flown into the connecting city on the day before.
"Are there no workhouses for the poor?"
--Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol"