I feel sorry for the kid. He was obviously excited and wanted to make the most of his opportunity to explore the airport. He appears to be a local boy going by his blog and no doubt the trip to EDI was booked just for the fun of flying, the airport experience and the opportunity to take photographs.

He doesn't say if he was travelling alone, but if he was I would have hoped the customer service agent might have been a little more helpful and waived the change fee in the circumstances.

Yes, it was his fault. But he is a teen and sometimes youthful exuberance can get in the way of common sense. I find the tale rather sad, especially the lack of any compassionate assistance to get him to EDI.