OK, had the chat with a pleasant agent and supervisor.

Was advised there was nothing AP could do with regards to YQ as it was "out of their hands" and the responsibility of the airlines. They did offer to attempt to rebook previous flight. Unfortunately this was not an option on my end.

As with cityexpressytz, I was offered a refund of the AP fee to change the flights. No other offer was put forward. I'm not sure if anything else could be done. Therefore, I accepted and am now moving forward.