Those pesky notes will get you in trouble every time - now I see the party in question has been released.
I think he should have to, at the very least, pay for the NG scramble.
For those of us who have had flight delays, some of us sitting on the tarmac for an hour or more before given flight clearance, I commiserate with those aboard who, ontime or not, will have to run like the wind to catch the next link of their flight.