What is supposed to happen (on average/in general) with "legit" fees
that are below the standard amount for a new transaction?
Do they get ignored "almost as badly" as no fee at all?
My impression is that pools treat all transactions, with fees less than the current standard 0.0001btc, as free tranactions. So, not "almost as badly", is "exactly as badly" as no fee at all.
Regarding the estimated confirmation time in blockchain.info, I have no clue how this new estimation aglo works. I have seen transactions has "very soon" status for 12hours. I prefer their old system stating the actual place in the queue.