Express Replacement not available with AppleCare+?

I bought AirPods 2 Pro in August, and also purchased AppleCare+. About two weeks later, the right airpod started making a rustling noise that sounded like wind blowing. I went through all the troubleshooting steps from cleaning, resetting, re-pairing, replacing the tips, updating the firmware, updating iOS, etc. etc. etc. and nothing worked.

Finally I contacted Apple Support who told me Express Replacement is not available for my location and that I had to take them to an Apple Store. The problem is I don't have reliable transportation and the closest store is close to an hour away by train/bus. I finally just went through the hassle of making my way over there and they replaced the right AirPod, which worked for about a month until the same issue returned.

Now support is still telling me Express Replacement is, again, not an option for my location but this is advertised as a benefit of AppleCare+ Has anybody else experienced this? I had them check over 9 different zip codes across the country where I have friends and relatives, everywhere from New York to Denver to Miami to Chicago to Los Angeles and apparently Express Replacement is simply not available anywhere in the country.