Part of the pitch the harried gate agent in RDU was trying to make was that if you waited & hoped rather than taking the rebooking the next day, you wouldn't be able to get on the early flights because the seats would be taken. She wasn't getting many takers at 12:30 p.m. as long as there was a slim chance of getting out that day, but maybe the sentiment changed as the day wore on.

It definitely seemed like a dribbling cascade of bad departure-time news. The first estimate is just the opening bid.