“destination of Atlanta...due to weather risks”
It might take an hour for a really bad storm to pass over Hartsfield.
There probably was no need to keep the planes at Montgomery for so long.
The jets likely needed fuel and the fuel truck operators were gone for the day. Also with the weather delays, there likely weren't any open slots at Atlanta. The pilots may also have hit their flying time for the day.
A couple of weeks ago on the next to last leg of the trip from Colorado Springs, the Atlanta layover was projected to be about two hours but storms changed it to four and then later cancelled flight to Columbia.
My wife got us standby and it’s time changed once or twice.
We were able to get on and get home.
2 AM mountain time to 9 PM Eastern made for a long day.
There were no cars to rent.
When I was picking up the luggage that miraculously arrived, there was this woman picking hers up too. She got a rental and drove it to Columbia and was there ten minutes before I was.
I hate to think how much that car cost.
There might have been a need to do some research or even inter-agency cooperation in preparation for someone on the flights.