Or he could stop at any inter net place and post here on the forum in pm or even in public just to let me know that when he landed his iphone broke and that he is ok
That is true but I know QB and he is going to hit the ground running full speed! He is not going to hunt down a internet cafe' to log onto GB to let you know he landed safe.
As others have mentioned earlier you should have known his flight number and gate but most importantly you should have done 2 things to prevent this from happening ( even if he did lose his fone)
1) Meet you at a designated location in the airport, I've been to LAX and it's not very big. The baggage claim is a easy place to meet or specifically the bottom of the escalator that leads down to the baggage claim.
2) Known what he looked like/ was wearing
If you knew both these then even if he threw his phone out of the plane you could see his flight # and know exact location & visually identify him.
Sounds like alot of a BS hassle but it's shit I learned to do over the years and would have given you a clear cut answer to if he really arrived?