"flight cancelled as crew out of hours"
Used to handle a flight at DUB that originated in Manchester, and was heading for Cape Town. It HAD to go no later than 45 minutes after scheduled departure time, otherwise crew were out of hours, we had an hour to load it, (767-300) and sort out any problems, like missing passengers which meant off loading bags. It wasn't easy!!!
Computers will fail, and most handling companies are not geared to deal with that in any sort of timely manner, the turnover of staff is just too high for them to have all the check in people trained in manual procedures that they might use once a year, if that, and there is no such thing as a "standard" procedure, each airline has slightly different procedures and requirements, so training everyone in all the options is just not going to happen.
OK, it looks like some mistakes were made, but in the industry of today, it doesn't take much for the entire day's program to become a ball of chalk.
Part of the problem is that aviation has become too reliable in some respects.
It wasn't that many years ago that you left London, and stopped at Shannon for fuel, and then headed for Gander for more fuel. After about 8 hours, the decision would be made if there was enough fuel left to get there, and if not, you came back to Shannon and tried again the following day, and there were no Hilton Hotels close to the airport in those days either.
Now, there are people that get upset if the landing after a 9 hour flight is more than 5 minutes out from the time that was displayed at take off. Somewhere along the line, there has to be some realism here, and a recognition that problems will happen, and have to be overcome.
OK if I was only going for a week, then I'd be upset, and looking for some recompense for the loss, but I don't think that all the blame for this can be laid at the airline door, there are a number of other factors at work here, and all of them combined to provide the end result.