Having heard nothing but praise and too-good-to-be-true replacement stories about AppleCare, I was surprised to read recently that Apple is flat out denying fixes MacBook Airs with broken hinges (that clearly seem to be the result of a manufacturing defect), even if the notebooks are under warranty.
When the hinge of Alex's MacBook Air (which was under warranty) broke, apparently of its own accord, Apple stipulated that he had two options--either he could shell out $800 to get it fixed or, better yet, $1,799 would fetch him a brand new MacBook Air. Apple is labeling it as "accidental" damage, which is not covered by the company's warranty policy.
Lisa Eckstein describes the exact same issue with her MacBook Air on one of her Flickr pages (photograph above). After she was turned down by one Apple Store, she went to another one that was "smaller and less busy." Luckily for her, these guys promptly took it in and fixed it.
A quick Google search for ""macbook air" hinge" yields thousands of results, many of which seem to be unresolved cases like Lisa and Alex's. Apple does not appear to be acknowledging this as a manufacturing defect, which is what much of the evidence seems to be pointing towards.
Meanwhile, if you have a MacBook Air with a similar defect on your hands and it is under warranty, I would advise you to not to give up on your first try if your request for service is turned down. There's always a chance that you'll find another Apple Store which will be a lot more accommodating. Hopefully, Apple will reconsider its stance on this issue
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