We had exactly this discussion last time a plane went tech. Frankly I don't see a better option if they think that there is a significant chance that the problem will be fixed before the crew goes out of hours. Clearly, as soon as they realise it's not going to happen then they do the best they can, which doesn't seem to have been wonderful this time.

A one-way, one-class upgrade is worth about 40,000 miles to me if it's confirmed, but not a lot as a standby I agree.