Because they booked and paid for their ticket and seat in good faith and don't deserve to be removed to accommodate another customer just on status - and I am speaking as someone who had this very thing happen in my benefit during the last wave of south florida hurricanes.

Once the standby order ranking system is fixed to give priority to the right customers, I think the protection policy should be 'officialized' to do the following:

1) if the flight is delayed/canceled/forecast-to-misconnect, then the Elite Desk should be able to rebook the customer on the next available CO flight with any open seat. The customer should also be able to hold a 'protected segment' without having to make a permanent change to reservation. I know a few other forum members already reported having this option.

2) if the CO flight is full, then the customer should be placed on the standby list - Delta's system orders the standby list not just by status, but also factoring in missed connections and delays, so a Plat with an irregular op situation would be cleared before a Plat who just wants to fly out earlier. CO should engineer their list clearing mechanism in the same manner. The customer can opt to go on the standby list for as many flights as they wish, while at the same time holding a confirmed seat on the next flight with open space. Whichever clears first, off they go - and the remaining protected segments/lists would automatically cancel.

3) if the passenger cannot be accommodated on CO metal, the customer should have the option of rebooking on a codeshare flight if available - unless the delay/misconnect/cancel is due to circumstances under CO's control (not weather, ATC, etc), in which case the customer should be rebooked according to the old Rule 240 tradition - the next open seat on any carrier. All without having to go to the airport or run between terminals/counters.