Being that you flew between 2 European airports you might be entitled to mandatory compensation under 'european commission law EC261'
If indeed the case, you'd be entitled to 600 Euro (or equivalent)
Unfortunately, the source of the delay was my flight out of Philadelphia, PA. The intra-EU portion of the revised itinerary from London to Amsterdam was actually on-time. Since AA is not an EU-based airline, and the delay was caused outside of the EU, it would appear that I am ineligible for EC 261 compensation.
It is interesting how my flight from Amsterdam to Philadelphia on the same B757-200 aircraft did not experience any delays. I have a feeling that regulations such as EC 261 provide a stronger incentive for airlines to avoid delays and cancellations when guaranteed compensation is involved. If I had experienced even a small portion of the issues on the return portion of my trip that I had experienced on the outbound portion, then I would have been entitled to 600EUR cash compensation under EC 261.
I don't know if he's eligible for EU mandatory compensation. All I'm saying is that according to EU and Israeli law he is due quite a bit in compensation, therefore AA is not right in this case to throw him a bone, so to speak. He deserves a lot more.
Thank you for mentioning the mandatory compensation that would have been offered elsewhere. Since this was a US-EU flight on a US-based airline, it does not appear that I am eligible for mandatory cash compensation. However, the mandatory compensation practices for other countries help illustrate that a large number of people have determined that these types of delays are unacceptable. It is sad that AA's compensation practices are primarily motivated by law rather than a desire to help customers affected by AA's failures.
I explained to the AA rep that they lost much of my trust when I experienced significant mechanical issues on two aircraft of the same type, but the AA rep did not seem particularly interested in this. While the delay and the associated problems were certainly disappointing, AA's failure to maintain its B757-200 aircraft was most concerning to me.
The main lesson from this experience is to always fly on an EU/Switzerland/Norway-based airline when flying to those destinations. That way, EC 261 applies, and the compensation is already predetermined.