I dunno Dash8, I'm not sure I'd be so quick to put this in the "money-grabbing-mentality" category. It looks pretty simple to me: superq7 paid for a particular clearly-specified product; that product was not provided. He/she should therefore be refunded the full cost of the specified product.
If the airline wants to offer a different, lesser product as a substitute, the pax should be given the option (before travel starts, or at least before boarding) to accept it (and pay) or decline (and pay nothing). Only the pax can decide if the lesser product represents value for money and is something they wish to pay for - the airline cannot just presume that because the pax was willing to pay X for bulkhead seat they are willing to pay 50% of X for an "extra space" seat.
I don't know how superq7 paid for the ticket, but if it was by credit card, I would lodge a payment dispute with the card provider, as the product paid for has demonstrably not been delivered.