Reddit:

I just got an extended-warranty claim approved for my airpods. After 1.5 years the battery has really gone downhill and I have started experiencing a lot of disconnects.

I started a chat with apple and since it was out of warranty they said I would have to pay for the replacement. I asked them to confirm that if I was still in warranty this replacement would be free of charge.

I then took this chat history to my citi credit card and two weeks later my claim was approved.

This is a very interesting strategy. Many credit cards include this sort of free replacement coverage. The key is getting Apple to acknowledge that sinking battery life would be covered if the AirPods were still under warranty.