Thanks for the responses.

He did ask to be put on another airline and she told him there was nothing available. I was able to quickly search on Kayak and found flights to book on UA and AA so I smell Shena there.

They did not offer hotel (he was in Chicago for work) but I don't think he asked either because this all went down over the phone before he even got to the airport. I think it would have been a different situation if the cancellation had happened while pax were waiting for the flight in the gate area.

Oh well, I'll just tell him to submit a complaint and see what he gets.