Just out of interest, how would you all like something similar to CO's SDC benefit:

Once you are inside the 24 hr window before your flight, you can switch to an alternate flight that departs up to 24 hours from the time you are making the SDC request (routing change is ok, only need same O/D pair, so long as your fare bucket is available). $50 for non-status/silvers, $25 for golds, $0 for plat.

If there is no availabilty in your fare class, you can standby at the airport, and you will be charged according to your status if you clear.

The great thing about the SDC on Continental is you can go both forward and back by quite a large amount.