The problem here is quite simple, poor communication. Whatever the airline did to accommodate, feed and compensate the passengers, a large number of people who had a valid contract to be transported on a specific flight at a specific time were repeatedly left with minimal information, were shunted back and forth and generally treated poorly.
Any mechanical device can fail. Duty hours are there for the most important reason-safety. When things go wrong on the ground away from base, airlines depend on ground handlers to interface with passengers. Time after time the interface fails.
This problem occurs across the industry with carriers large and small, legacy and low cost.
Whilst replacement parts, replacement aircraft and replacement crews are not going to be immediately available, keeping passengers properly informed and treating them like intelligent adults should be at the core of handling any delay.
Even at peak season it should not be beyond the resources of a major legacy carrier to source ways of transporting their customers from a well connected airport within 24 hours or sourcing a working replacement, or replacements, from somewhere within a day's flying time.
This weekend's debacle can be equated to the type of farce perpetrated by some of the worst charter carriers of forty and fifty years ago.