I would have said the legal case was extremely thin here. In theory, by selling tickets for transport on a plane to that destination on that day, the airline could reasonably be said to have a duty of care to carry the SLF to that destination on that day.
It is obviously not ideal, but I would have said that, given the circumstances, the airline had gone to sufficient lengths to perform the contract (they did, after all, get the passengers to the intended destination, albeit very late and by a roundabout route). The sin is merely not keeping the SLF fully informed. Big deal. Happens all the time.
Is it the fact that this judgement was a punishment to the airline for not keeping the passengers informed? If so, as JH said at the start of this thread - a nest of vipers!