At 16, he should have looked at the flight information boards and gone to the right gate to begin with. I knew how airports worked a lot younger than that, in fact way back when the information was posted on actual boards and not TV screens.
In the article it days he was at the right gate. Just the wrong plane.
I got separated from my parents in the middle of Customs at La Guardia (or JFK, can’t remember) coming back from Russia when I was 14 with a bottle of Vodka sticking out of a bag. My only worry was the liquor might be confiscated from a minor. No biggie. Of course, that was back in the day.
People seem so backward these days.
He was at the right gate, just early. The flight that was boarding was to PR; his flight was boarding next.