I edited to clarify. I'm not saying the airline shouldn't compensate this. Rather, that the compensation shouldn't be as if the replacement flight never happene

I edited to clarify. I'm not saying the airline shouldn't compensate this. Rather, that the compensation shouldn't be as if the replacement flight never happened—it should be as if the replacement flight did happen. i.e. I'm saying the complaint falls under "I disagree on the amount, I think it's too low" rather than "I disagree on the nature of the event entirely".