I think O came back with another mailing that said it was an security issue with TSA (one traveler record over 2 legs). Too difficult to do, etc., etc.
I used to deviate the first leg out of MEM and then pickup the rest of the trip on the second DH all the time. Seemed like a win-win for all. Now it's just yet another stressor/hassle with deviating (added to TSA stuff, high fares, airline cnxing, 8hr/12hr check-in, etc.).
Any positive news coming down the pike for the deviator? Probably not.