I think this is where having a really excellent TA comes in handy vs a less knowledgeable one. When it comes to those really long holds like we saw yesterday, I think a good TA who is on his or her game would be a sanity saver vs DIY.
The biggest problem is for those of us who booked through third party sites that aren’t really TAs. UT generally has better customer service than someplace like Expedia or Hotels.com, but none of them have the staff to dedicate to fixing this mess of epic proportions.