My wife and I are supposed to fly DEN-DCA on Wednesday. However, my parents were in a serious auto accident yesterday and my mom is in intensive care because of her injuries and is likely to have surgery later in the week once she is stablized.

If I can get medical documentation from the hospital, will United either refund my money or if not, waive the change fees on our non-refundable tickets?

I tried calling them tonight and their call center gave me a rather confusing response about having to pay the $150 change fee up front if I cancel and then refunding it once I submit the medical documentation and complete the future booking and travel. That didn't seem quite right to me, so I thought I'd ask about it here.