How was this legal? Missing a connecting flight means you’re detained and forced to buy a new ticket? Dispute that charge for not providing service as paid for.
The reason this happened is because adults intimidated a child. If it were me, I would have told them to fuck off, sure that I was planning to go to NYC, and oh crap I'd unexpectedly get food poisoning in Charlotte and had to stay there.
Airlines are trying to have their cake and eat it, too, with their BS fare games. If they don't want people "skiplagging" they should price their tickets accordingly.
There really needs to be punitive damages.
That prices are higher for a partial flight is the criminal aspect here.