FlyerJosh -
An excellent post and very informative. Thank you.
Using your experience, and some of the 'real world' situations you mention, would you possibly share some of your answers to the offered scenarios?
I've thought that the general answer of - try to find a way to say YES - while not sacrificing safety, rules, regs, SOPs, etc....... is an acceptable approach to most situations. Now the devil is still in the details and often the correct answer given (especially with regards to the weather/delay questions) will not always lead to an understanding/happy customer (just look at the general flying public's reaction to the same at the terminals), but then it is the company's responsibility to back your decision. If they are not willing to then you must decide if it is a company you still want to work for.
USMCFLYR