I had the same situation last year. My maternal grandfather passed away suddenly and I had to get my mother to Beijing on 48 hour notice and this was before AA flew ORD-PEK so we were entirely dependent on partner awards. The agent was incredible and helped me get a business award AUS-ORD-NRT-PEK for just $100 close in fee. She even waived the $20 agent fee, a fee I would have paid without a thought. In the end, my mom arrived just 90 minutes before the funeral started...

If we were more desperate, I knew that we did have the AAnytime option to PVG and then purchasing a tag on once we got to china.