Thanks for the welcome.

The response stated that the issue should have been recognized by employees before boarding (I'm sure it was and was just ignored; the gentleman was not a borderline COS).

And, it stated that once the flight attendants noticed the issue (which they did), they should have notified the Station personnel to "oversell" the flight and find a volunteer to open up a seat. Then again, the "station personnel" was standing right there in the aisle. Even with that resolution, it's likely that I would have been the one required to move seats (if the other gentleman or I didn't do VDB), which would negate the benefit of EarlyBird boarding that my buddy and I both purchased.

Like I said though, it was not an unbearable circumstance, and the response to my concern and the generous unsolicited refund convinced me that the matter was taken seriously. I've probably flown about 100 flights on Southwest, and my experiences are nearly always positive. This case was an anomaly for me.