Our trip to the islands was supposed to start yesterday

I took the advice from a forum for travelers to St Martin who were trying to do the same thing. They said to write a letter to AA on their Compliments/Complaints page. I did so and explained why we couldn't use the ticket before Mar 2018. I received a response fairly quickly and the answer was yes! We were very thankful because technically they didn't have to give us a refund for non-refundable tickets. We got the refund today, so it took about 10 days for it to show up on our credit card.
Our original flight from MIA to STT did go on time yesterday and looked to be about 1/2 full when I checked on Mon.
Looking forward to returning to the islands...maybe next fall/winter. I think I will buy trip insurance next time, although I realize I need to read the fine print on exactly what situations are covered.
Thanks for your input.
** I realize this issue is tiny compared to the challenges that the residents of the islands are having.
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