Your comment on weather need not be made unless you happen to be a pilot. Weather effects aviation in FAR different ways that what is appears to be on the ground. And, by the way, it is the FAA that implements delays due to weather, not the airlines. The airlines do not make decision on weather delays, it is the FAA, and Air Traffic Control (which are FAA).
The weather doesn't have to be bad at your destination, for a flight to be delayed. If there is any weather along the route, or if the destination where the airplane is coming from, to Houston, as weather, and thus the plane is late leaving there, it is still delayed due to weather, even though there may not be bad weather at YOUR destination.
As far as the plane not being serviced while in the hangar. The airplane was in the hangar for maintenance. Maintenance personell do not service aircraft. By servicing, they mean fuel, and making sure they have everything on board the aircraft that is needed. For example, the FAA prohibits any airliner from taking off, even if just one of the safety cards from inside the seat pockets, is missing.
I don't know what happened with your son, but it is the passengers responsibility to be at the plane, when it boards. EVEN during delays. Even if the agent told them 9:15, delays can often extend longer, but sometimes end up being shorter, as well. I've had this same thing happen, while working as a gate agent one day. The screens which update the flight times (which by the way, are updated by the FAA, not the airlines), showed the plane being delayed for an hour more than it actually was delayed. I paged, and paged for passengers who had walked off, thinking it was an hour late. One agent even went and searched the restaurant and bar, but in the end, we couldn't find the passengers, and the captain (who has the final say), said he could not wait any longer, and so the plane left. Of course, about a 1/2 hour later, the passengers came walking up. We got them out on the very next flight, which left when they thought theirs was going to leave, so it wasn't that big of a deal to them, but it is still the passengers responsiblity to be in the gate area, even during delays.
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