Not Winterstale's issue, but perhaps others like us fly into and out of a small regional airport and flights are very limited, ergo seats as well...Very easy to miss a flight.
And with all the consolidations taking place and flights filling up in minutes as a result, you're out of luck before you even know it. That happened to us here in Mexico but because we were booked our seats were held. We did cancel and reschedule for another reason...
So just the logistics for us and the current situation with flights disappearing...At least if you are booked on a flight that is part of a consolidation you don't lose your seats...
We've never seen this situation in all the years we've been traveling, no one has I'm sure...