Difficulties with travel - flight delays

You can be the ultimate travel planner but you cannot account for flight delays.  Last Sunday night I arrived at Hong Kong aiport with my 9.5 mth old baby to check in for our BA flight to London.  The departures board ominously showed a new date for my flight in red '30/7'.  However, as my scheduled flight was 23:45 I thought perhaps it was only a delay past midnight.  When I approached the BA check in desks I saw a big sign and my heart sank... the flight had been delayed to 10:30am the next day and airport hotels had been arranged for us.
Now in the grand scheme of things, it wouldn't have been the end of the world given I live in Hong Kong. BUT..when you're travelling with a baby, you just want to get to your destination with the minimimum of fuss. 
So after a bit of a cursing, I marched up to the BA counter and asked what i needed to do to get onto the slightly earlier BA flight.  The lady at the counter kept tapping away whilst I boiled over inside anticipating a fight.  I was absolutely delighted when she uttered the words, no problem you're on the 23:15, same seats.
I could see queues of people behind me forming, realising they were in for a night at the airport.  I was one of the lucky ones.
What lessons do I take away from this one?

• I had planned to be super organised and check in earlier that day in town to get rid of my luggage. If I had done that, I almost certainly would not have been able to transfer to the earlier flight
• I was flying Premium Economy, did that give me a better chance?  Also the fact that I was only occupying one seat?
• I didn't check my flight status before I left for the airport. If I had, I probably would have stayed at home and got to the airport the next day.
• Get to the airport with plenty of time.  I got to check in 2 hours in advance, enough time to make the 23:15