You missed the first part of this scenario:
Airline: We can't get you to JFK according to your booked flight
Passenger: I have to get to JFK ASAP
Airline: We have a flight to LGA if you want to try that
Passenger: I'll take it
The First part is essential in deciding the rights and remedies of the passenger
It is the Airline who is in breach of the contract since the contract is not merely for the Departure and Arrival points but for specific dates and times with an allowance for small delays.
The Airline being in breach and offering what may be a way out, the passenger has to accept it and give it a try. By so doing she does not relieve the airline for its breach. If she had refused it and went to Court, AA could tell the court, "We offered her to get to LGA and she didn't even try it. Had she taken it she may have made the Lufthansa flight from JFK"
If the airline offers her a chance to make the Lufthansa flight by going to LGA she has to take it. The airline is liable for her taxi trip from LGA to JFK even if she didn't make the Lufthansa flight and for her having to pay the additional amount to travel. All she did was reasonable and is clearly within the contemplation of the airline when they breached the original contract and offered her the LGA flight as a possible way out.
What the OP might have done (if she had the money) is to immediately book an altogether new flight to JFK if one was available, even on another ailine, and sue the airline for the cost of that ticket.
I had a case a few years ago where a family of 3 had booked to fly from Port of Spain Trinidad to JFK on a Friday afternoon to spend four days in New York. The flight was cancelled (mechanical problems) and they were told to return home and the airline would phone them when to return to the airport. The airline did not phone until Sunday afternoon and the flight left on Sunday night. They sued and I represented them. We took the position that the contract was varied from departure Friday to departure on Sunday by the airline who was liable for damages for the delay. The airline argued that the passengers' acceptance of the Sunday flight meant that they accepted the new date and had thereby waived their right to sue for any breach of contract.
The Judge thought it was not a variation of the original contract since a delay of more than two days was more than a variation, but a new contract that was offered and accepted by the passengers. However, either way, whether it was a variation of the original contract as we were saying, or a new contract, the airline was liable for damages since the original breach was theirs.
When there is a breach of contract, the innocent party must take such steps as he could to get the job done (or in this case to get where she needed to go) and the party in breach is liable for all losses that would have been contemplated.
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