How you know the airline did not make a schedule change? There had to be some reason NCL changed an already ticketed flight. My guess is some schedule changed (either the flight or the ship). Which ever one changed owes him the fees, IMO, but I haven't read the T&Cs for NCL flights (and I don't care to because there is no way in hell I'd ever use them). Another option is NCL found a cheaper set of flights or they realized the flights they booked wouldn't work - in either of those cases NCL owes him the fees, IMO.