Being held up at the airport seems too gentle a description if the hold up is the direct fault of the airport's infrastructure due to lack of staff, back up equipment, etc. If the airline mans it own check-in desks and its IT fails and can't check you in and you miss the flight, surely you have a claim against the incompetence of the airline. Why should the same not be true if the airport's x-ray system or whole IT system crashes. I would suspect any respectable airline would accept responsibility and do the noble thing with your claim. An airport might squirm and wriggle more energetically. Is it being suggested that a civil claim in court would be necessary in such a scenario? In that case a few class actions would sharpen their attention.
My question is motivated because it has happened recently, in EU< and I'm wondering what happened: or did the airports just wash their hands and say, "sorry mate you're on your own." Now where have I heard that before.