re: OT Airline Experts: miss departing flight, can you still board return flight?

My girlfriend overslept and missed her flight two weeks ago. They put her on a later flight for no charge, but it cancelled her return flight, which she did not find out until arriving at the airport to fly home. They put her on an even more convenient flight for no charge.

This doesn't help you, but I still can't believe it happened considering how stringent airlines are.