I would not be worried about the 45 minute connection. As regards proneness to rebook on other airlines, it would not do your relative much benefit. As the AY HKG flight leaves at 23.45, there are no rebooking options for travel on the same day. Rebooking would most likely involve backtracking to AMS, DUS, FRA or similar and flying with CX. Finnair has a 16.55 departure to HKG on Tue, Thu and Sat, which arrives at 8.40 AM, i.e. roughly around the same time as the Central European options. Obviously if there is no 16.55 flight on the day she would fly, it may make sense to ask to be rebooked on CX or TK.