I don't know why so many people on this board are so quick to defend the outrageous antics of the airlines. Generally speaking, you had a contract for travel that the airline breached and so they would have owed you damages. Measuring your damages is difficult, particularly because you eventually got to your destination albeit late at no cost to you. If you had come out of pocket to take a different flight, contract law generally would let you recover.

One caveat is that you rarely hear of the airlines getting sued by passengers. I suspect there is federal legislation that protects them from things like this.

I think they acted horribly but economically what they offered you is probably more than you would get in court.