Have ~$7k on a reservation for 7 people. SFO-MCO, originally afternoon nonstop, now a morning flight with a connection in DEN. Return is evening, changed from nonstop to DEN connection. First agent I tried today only offered ETC. Tried again, was on hold for a bit while agent talked to supervisor, so I thought it was going to be successful but she came back with the same thing. I mentioned the DOT enforcement language and was told no refund was available unless they make another change between now and Wednesday. Evidently 5+ hour earlier departure and change from nonstop to stop is not "significant."

Is there a proper order of operations for a DOT complaint? I suspect I'll have to accept the damn ETC by Wednesday when we're supposed to fly. Flights are happening SFO-DEN and DEN-MCO so I doubt I can plan on a day of cancellation and an even more significant change.