Very interesting. I'll try it out and come back with my thoughts.
Edit:
Here is what I tried out. As you can see, I didn't grab the extra feather, so this doesn't prove anything. However, this was 72 frames slower than JXQ's 11 exit time (1788 frames to 1716), and slowing it down further to get the feather doesn't seem worth it for the TAS run. I do think this sounds like a very good strategy for the console run though, since getting the extra feather quickly in SW4 should be very difficult. Note, though, that even though this was a 370 (and only a few frames away from a 371), it's still quite a bit slower. The time spent in pipes is longer than one might expect.
Edit 2: Just to clarify, I don't actually know if your strategy would be faster in a console speedrun either, it just sounds like it to me without knowing exactly how quickly you can get the feather in SW4. Just wanted to make it clear that the regular strategy very well might be faster on console as well.
