Thanks everyone - this has been very helpful. It sounds like this really isn't an issue. It would, in some respects, be nice to be a bit proactive if you're seeing a lot of delays out of an airport, particularly because sometimes airlines in general like to wait to delay flights until last minute, and it would be nice to not find yourself delayed halfway to your connection. But, at least there's some recourse.
As a side note about the AC membership, I've also had centurion/AMEX for a while now, but am leaning toward the Citi card that gives AC access for next year - in part because of this. I don't expect them to live up to Centurion lounges, but for IRROPs and a short layover where AC is closer than Centurion (or if Centurion just doesn't exist at all at that airport), it could be a nice added feature.