Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan - Award redeposit fees

I used miles for tickets for my wife and her two god-daughters to take a trip to PSP. I had to cancel the tickets because my wife's doctor has confined her to bed past the dates of the tickets. I was charged a redeposit fee for all three traveler's even though I asked about a waiver.

What is a valid reason to waive the redeposit fee? The program guidelines say "Award certificates may be reassigned to the member without a service fee if the designated traveler is unable to travel." which I thought applied to my wife's case.

Award certificates are what they used to issue, which were in turn redeemed at the airport for the actual award ticket. Now that its all done electronically, the certificate process is bypassed. They may still issue paper certificates for those who request them, but I'm pretty sure they were discontinued altogether.

Did you call customer service and see if they'll do anything for you under the circumstances?

Generally you stand a better chance before the tickets are cancelled (i.e., it may be easier for CS to redeposit and waive rather than issue a refund for cash).

Did you call customer service and see if they'll do anything for you under the circumstances?

Generally you stand a better chance before the tickets are cancelled (i.e., it may be easier for CS to redeposit and waive rather than issue a refund for cash).
I did call them afterward to clarify the charge. I was told by the reservations agent "that'll be $50 to redeposit the miles." The $150 charge was unexpected which is when I called customer service. They told me it was $50 per award, and that it is unlikely that the charges would have been waived.

Oh well, less money in the travel budget for the year.