Thread drift, I know, but I consider myself a reasonable person and completely disagree. If my kettle, non-elite wife was standing by for a flight due to IRROPS or IDB on her originally scheduled earlier flight, I'd be very upset if her seat was given to a 1K (or Plat, it doesn't matter) who happened to arrive early on an in-bound connection and was trying to get on an earlier out-bound flight just for convenience.
In this scenario, your wife would have been prioritized above the 1K. There is a separate waitlist for displaced travelers that clears prior to the normal waitlist. Within each of those lists it's prioritized by status, so a 1K passenger who was similarly experiencing IRROPS would trump your wife regardless of when they were added, but not if they were just seeking to get on an earlier flight. As it should be imho.