Wait, I'm confused. Why is delaying by 12 hours worse than canceling? As soon as there is a delay, all of the free rebooking options open up via the app/website/phone agents, so at that point, whether or not they eventually cancel it should in no way negatively affect you. If you'd like to pretend that it was canceled and rebook to something else, you're welcome to do so.

I had a situation last winter where I was very happy they chose a big delay over canceling. I had a morning flight which was delayed and delayed, and I could have changed to a different flight, but there weren't any first class seats open on the different flight, so I elected to keep my original flight. I can work anywhere that has internet, so a day spent working in the sky club vs a day spent working in an office is irrelevant to me. Eventually, about ten hours late, the flight finally did take off with me in my first class seat. If they had canceled it, I would have had to rebook and probably been stuck in economy.