[PHXFlyer]

Originally Posted by jdunlap4

When we arrived at 3:30 the attendant stated that our flight would not be leaving until 6:40pm and that we would not make our connection.

At 3:30 they most likely did not yet know if they would be in an oversold situation. The scheduled departure of the flight was still an hour and forty minutes away. They don't even start a volunteer list until an hour or less before the departure and then only at the gate. Volunteers are notified if their seats are needed with less than 30 minutes and usually closer to the 15 minute cutoff time for boarding to close.

Originally Posted by jdunlap4

She then booked us for a flight the next day, without asking if we wanted to wait to see if the flight would leave earlier.

The OP didn't have to accept this. The gate agent, however, made a good call because indeed it looks like they would have missed that flight in Newark. The flight to SFO did indeed depart a bit late but not enough that the OP would have made it.