He should have gotten an email inviting him to the beta and at that point could've set up his old 1.0 game to be superseded by ARR. This is what happened to me. Now, I'll get ARR for free and I've been in each beta. I don't know what will happen to your friend though if he didn't do this and this shit is bananas.
In the worst case scenario, the pre-order bonuses will be tied to an account that is not the FFXIV account, right? Oh shit... certainly that couldn't be true? That's a nightmare situation right there.
Sorry you misunderstand me, he is still getting the game for free, collector's item bonuses and was allowed into beta 3 and 4. The issue is people who bought 1.0 and paid for less than 6 months are not allowed into the early access.