Originally Posted by
WineCountryUA
As the OP did not push back on the initial response about non-USA location, I have been assuming this is departing from a location outside the USA. Rereading the OP, that is not clear -- so until we hear from OP, we do not know. But the airport agents response fits the non-USA departure.
If it was departing from the USA than the DOT do clearly apply. Will adjust my earlier response to make my assumption clear.
OP hasn't been seen on FT since the first post. Something in the initial post made me think it was SFO, but indeed that isn't clear. Perhaps we can wait a bit for a reply before concluding anything, except that it seems UA should have at least offered a hotel if there was no misunderstanding about being bumped.