I am not really sure I understand this... Wouldn't any passenger be able to request that AC accommodate them on some other airline/routing to get them to YVR and onward? I know anybody in J could/would/should make such a request, and likely would (in my experience) get that if they were reasonable about it. And there are a lot of routings that could get you where you are going faster than a 41 hour delay. Like just about anything East or West bound out of HKG to Europe or to the West Coast of Canada or USA...