How did I end up in Germany?

A few days ago I made a very tough decision to travel light, and not have any checked luggage... and now, I'm so glad I did.  My mom brought me to Nova in the morning, and by the time we were on the road at 9:30am, flights were already delayed. We weren't too concerned though because the rain was supposed to taper off by noon and my flight didn't leave for newark til 5:30. After my mom left me with Annie around noon, Annie and I grabbed lunch and decided to get me to the airport around 2:30pm, just in case. 

Once we arrived at Dulles, everything ran smoothly. I checked in, passed through security in record time, and my flight wasn't delayed, so I grabbed a milkshake and headed to terminal A1C. 

Around 4pm, an announcement came on the speaker saying, "We have over booked this flight, and we need 8 volunteers to get on a different flight. We will pay you." I thought to myself, there is no way a few hundred dollars is going to sway me to miss my flight to Spain! However, I was definitely interested in taking an earlier flight to Newark if that was possible. Turns out another flight to newark had been delayed and wasn't leaving til 4:45pm, so I was determined to get on that one. I gave the United Airline (UA) employees my passport, tickets and ID only to find out that the other flight didn't have extra seats. Then something strange happened...

The UA personnel asked when my flight to madrid was leaving from Newark. "8:15pm," I said. He looks down at the screen, then looks back up at me and says, "You're not going to make it." 

Me: "What do you mean, I'm not going to make it. This flight arrives in Newark at 7:10pm, I have an hour." 

UA: "This flight is going to be delayed."

Me: "Wait, this flight doesn't show up as delayed right now, but you're telling me that it is GOING to be delayed?"

UA: "Yes. Do you have any checked bags?"

Me: "No. What exactly does this mean?"

UA: "Your going to miss your connecting flight to Spain. We need to reroute you."

A few minutes pass by as Mr. UA is frantically typing on his computer searching, booking, and confirming new flights.

UA: "We're going to put you on a flight to Frankfurt, and you'll catch a flight to Spain from there. Window or aisle?"

Yep, this isn't a joke. If I hadn't asked about going on an earlier flight, I would've missed my flight to Spain and would be stranded in Newark. The thing that angers me most though, is the dishonesty of the airline. As soon as you know a flight is going to be delayed, your customers need to know too. 

Thanks for the meal card and the money though.