Originally Posted by
Beckles
When an airline "protects" a passenger it means they are booking them on an additional flight in case something happens to their original flight. Since the OP's flight was already cancelled, they were not looking for protection, but for rebooking.
Actually I believe the rebooking IS the protection. When we protect a passenger, we're suppose to delete the original reserved space (that hasn't been canceled) so that it returns to inventory. Allowing passengers to hold space on multiple (non-connecting) flights is frowned upon, even for 1K/GS (although common, yes).