The airline front of house sucks. Don't blame me if it drags you down.
You're preaching to the choir man! We have to deal with this level of monumental incompetence on a daily basis. We're quite often finishing shifts many hours late, and whilst this doesn't usually impact us financially as directly as it did in your scenario, it's extremely disruptive to our lives and families, which is priceless really.
In a way, I envy passengers like your family who only get screwed over once in a blue moon.
Of course none of this excuses the treatment of your family. I'd be well pissed off in their situation as well.
Apologies for some of the more uncouth replies.