[jimworcs]

Phx,
Why is it, if the passenger says that they were given no opportunity but to re-book you question it?

I admit that it is a little confusing as to exactly what happened.. for example, if they were offered $150 to volunteer and they declined, why were they rebooked anyway for no compensation? I would like to understand more about the sequence of events..

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.

An airline knows perfectly well if a flight has been significantly overbooked. It is also now able to tell much earlier than in the past if the flight is likely to be full because of online check it.. it is simply outdated to suggest that airlines are not aware of the likelihood of being "oversold" 1h40 before departure.