I never completed the story. He booked his own ticket from IAH to AUS. He submitted the ticket for reimbursement to Copa and received full reimbursement. So, obviously, they realize that they are contractually obligated to get you to your paid for destination.

Once again, I believe the problem is that no one is empowered to fix the problem at the airport ... there is one person in some room somewhere that can reimburse but after the fact. Copa should do better than this for a full service airline.