I booked award tickets for my in-laws from ATL to HNL with a stop in LAX. I could have booked the direct flight, but I specifically routed through LAX with a 3 hour layover as my in-laws are older, and they wanted to have shorter legs, be able to get off the plane, eat, relax, etc. DL oversold the first flight and automatically booked them on the direct flight ATL to HNL that departed an hour later. Not ones to understand the process, they just accepted the change. Now, they are on there way to HNL and their seat assignments are a row apart (I don't know yet if they were moved together later by an FA).

Should I bother calling/arguing for some compensation?

PS- What really irks me is because they have no status, yesterday I paid $45 for a preferred seat on the LAX to HNL leg to get 2 seats together.

You can complain but they aren't due DOT-mandated IDB compensation unless specific criteria are met, and one of those is a scheduled arrival on the alternate flight at least one hour later than the flight on which they were originally booked. They should have gotten in 2:56 earlier.

http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov/publi...tm#overbooking

IMHO the A330 nonstop is as good as it gets - in coach, Comfort+, or D1 - ATL-HNL.

You should at least get the additional fee back for the preferred seats, assuming they didn't have them or get put into C+ on the rebooked flight.

DL might argue (logically, imo) that when the passengers accepted the change, they were implicitly accepting the loss of their preferred seat and the forfeiture of any fees that might go along with that.

Emphasis mine. Are you sure that this was done automatically? I've never heard of a ticketing change being made automatically because of an oversell. To my knowledge, the only automatic rebooking that occurs on DL is the rebooking that VIPER does in the case of delays. Are you sure a DL agent (either at the gate or at check-in) didn't ask your in-laws if they would be willing to take the nonstop? If that's the case, and your in-laws agreed to it without asking for any kind of compensation or refund of fees, then I don't really think you have a leg to stand on to ask for any kind of reimbursement or compensation.

They just did a favor for the airline by changing their arrangements. It sounds like OP/passengers had a specific reason to choose the connecting flight instead of the direct. (The reason doesn't really matter to the airline.)

If the airline changed the flight without telling them, they should at least get some type of "customer service" gesture. Maybe some extra miles, free drinks, snacks, upgrade, etc. However, if they agreed to the change, then they don't have much to say about it.

Usually the nonstop is more expensive in money or miles, partly because it does use the A330.

I will find out how the conversation went after arrival. My guess is it went something like this:
GA: "Congrats. We have rebooked you on the direct flight to HNL. You will get to Hawaii 3 hours earlier!"
In-Laws: "uh, ....ok I guess."

I am most curious to see if they sat beside each other, or just accepted the seat assignments.

They might have been able to negotiate with the GA who moved them for nice seats together, especially if they had already paid for seats.

I have had an automatic rebooking from a Minneapolis connection to a Seattle non-stop from Detroit. It came with an upgrade so I didn't complain. This was for a non-status traveling companion and me

Mileage was the same in this instance. I triple checked with them about the layover, but that is what they wanted.

Very nice, but I hope you didn't get your first choice of meal since you didn't pay for FC.

I will still do so, as I will argue that is a VDB, not IDB.

+1 The early arrival defeats the IDB.

However, the same DOT rule also mandates airlines to seek volunteers before bumping.

Given DL has failed to do so, DL can still in trouble with the DOT.

I'm sure the GA thought she was doing a favor for two kettles by moving them to the generally more expensive and more desirable nonstop for free. If they didn't object, then effectively they accepted the change. In some circumstances, people need to stand up for themselves at the time something is happening, although that can be hard for those who don't travel much and don't know the rules about their rights in such cases.

Presuming that your parents were involuntarily denied boarding for their scheduled flight due to an oversell, they are not due any compensation because DL was able to deliver them to their final destination earlier than scheduled.

As you were not present, it is a big mistake for you to handle complaints. They may be elderly, but if they can handle themselves in a routine conversation, we are not talking about an argument in the Supreme Court here. It carries a lot more weight for the agent to hear directly what happened. If it makes you feel better, you can be on the line.

If they make a request (they are the pax, not you, even if you paid), DL will refund the seat fees back to the original form of payment. It doesn't matter whether they were IDB or VDB.

The auto rebook makes no sense, but it is not relevant. DL is required by law to solicit volunteers before involuntarily rebooking and, taking this at face value, that is what happened here. That does not affect your parents, but it does impact DL with DOT.

When your parents return and are home, they should send a short note explaining exactly what happened. DL will likely make some customer service gesture based on the reason for their selection of the connection rather than non-stop.