Manintheback
Firstly, let me applaud you for intervening on behalf of the lady in question, it was a caring act.
Secondly, let me say that I am appalled by the way the lady's needs were ignored, it could have been my mother who is in her 70s.
Unfortunately, the short haul air travel market is now cost driven, not service driven.
The people responsible for this are no other than us, the travelling public, who wish to buy low fares.
The emergence of Ryanair (in particular), but also easyJet and the others, has reformulated the business model for the whole market, which means that pax are now little more than numbers on a balance sheet and the customer experience reflects this.
In times of disruption, the new "lean and mean" airlines do not have enough people to deal with the problems ... I got dumped in Richmond, VA, at 10pm, a couple of years ago, when my flight was diverted due to weather and when I asked for assistance to find hotac (never been there before), the Delta agent pointed out the phone booths and said there should be a Yellow Pages with a hotel section. But then again, he was alone and dealing with FIVE diverted flights by himself.