So, on the advice of some here, I did a quasi MQD run to maintain my rollover.

I was scheduled LGB-SLC-MSP-IND last Friday. My outbound was IND-MSP-SNA. I choose Long Beach partially because it pushed the fare up to where I needed it to be. Of course, I had IROPS. I ended up flying LAX-DTW and overnighted in DTW and onto IND the next day. The MQD calculation came in under what it would have been on the original ticket. I didn't get any money back (nor do I expect it). How in the hell will I ever explain this to someone who will read my email in about 10 seconds and understand what I want and make an appropriate change? And will it be OK for it to be well after the first of the year since I am sure they have hundreds of thousands of messages sent in the last few days?