Originally Posted by mrcimino1

I don't believe there are any "Northwest rules" as you stated.

There are government mandated rules for some of these situations. In the US they cover Involuntary Denied Boarding only. Anything else, such as VDB, is between you and the GA, and as pointed out should be clearly agreed upon before you decide to give up your seat. In the EU, the rules are much more wide-ranging and the mandated compensation levels are much higher than in the US, but I am not sure that I can recite all of the details. I'm sure someone here can offer us a link to the exact wording of the EU Rules.

In the meantime, based only on the info you have provided, I am inclined to agree with some of the others here: when you volunteer to be bumped, you are really rolling the dice and there is no guarantee of what the final outcome might be. When you give up what you have, you must expect the worst in return (middle seats scattered throughout the plane, no leg room because you had to store your carryon under the seat in front of you, etc.) and if what you end up with happens to be marginally better than that, you did alright AND you have some $$$ or Euros to show for your pain.