Originally Posted by
Genius1
Your change fee won't be refunded. You were late - you missed conformance - you therefore missed the flight. Harsh, but true.

Yep. If you were on time then no issue would have arisen. Sorry OP, I know it sucks, but the rules are there for a reason- it's a condition of carriage etc.
These things happen to us all from time to time; have a large drink and move on