Thats PR - which Virgin (despite being an isolated carrier that missed the alliance boat and is now effectively run from Singapore) excel at. It's not a loophole, but it's simply good PR to be seen to be proactive about legislation that is not in their interests and penalises them for...
but supercedes the warsaw/montreal conventions where your contract is simply to get from a to b, irrespective of timing, with compensation being only due on economic impacts. an populist EU layer of legislation over an existing one that has a negative impact on business activity.
That depends if you think taking two grand off someone for a three hour delay is reasonable or not, or whether you do it just because you can and you could do with the cash.
What's the point of an holiday if you are going to give yourself a coronary pressing 3 for customer services for five days when you get home, to claw back a few quid because a plane was three hours late. Don't get it myself.