A good friend is BA Gold/OW Emerald. Next week she is traveling RIC to HKG via ORD. RIC to ORD is on AA metal in first with ORD to HKG on CX in J. The RIC-ORD leg departs at 0558. She is not excited about the early flight. There is a flight that departs at 1020 and would give her plenty of time to make her connection. My question is with her OW status can she do a free same day flight change to the later flight assuming there's availability?

Thanks