Two scenarios you don't expect until you're in them.

Scenario one: You're at the airport. The trip has been on the calendar for months. Overnight you got the worst GI bug of your life. You can't fly — the idea of being trapped on a plane for four hours is unthinkable. The airline's policy: "Cancellation fees may be waived with appropriate medical documentation submitted within 72 hours." Your travel insurer says the same — submit a doctor's letter and the claim can be reviewed. You need that letter today.

Scenario two: You have jury duty Monday. You also have a chronic condition — a migraine disorder, a flare-prone autoimmune condition, an early pregnancy with severe nausea — that makes 8-hour days in a courthouse impossible right now. The summons says deferrals require a doctor's letter explaining the medical reason and the requested deferral period. The court clerk is firm: no letter, no deferral.

Both scenarios need exactly the same thing: a signed, dated, verifiable letter from a US-licensed physician, fast, before the window closes. Here's how to get one.

What These Letters Actually Need

Travel cancellation letters and jury duty deferral letters look similar but have slightly different audiences. The elements that both need:

• Patient name and date of birth

• Date the patient was seen by the doctor

• A clear medical statement that supports the request — for travel, that the condition makes safe travel inadvisable for a specified period; for jury duty, that the condition prevents service for a specified period and a defer-to date is requested

• Doctor's full name, credentials, state license number, and signature

• Clinic contact for verification

Travel cancellation letters tend to be specific about dates: the date the patient was unable to travel and the relevant safe-to-resume-travel date. Travel insurers and airlines want the letter to clearly bracket the period of incapacity around the booked travel dates. Industry guidance from major US travel insurance carriers consistently lists "physician's signed letter" as a required claim element for medical cancellations.

Jury duty deferral letters tend to be specific about the defer-to date or the requested length of postponement. Court instructions vary by jurisdiction — federal court, state court, and county court systems each have their own deferral processes. The summons itself almost always has clear instructions on what the letter should include and where to submit it; the letter just needs to match those instructions.

The 3-Step CodyMD Process

1. Chat with Cody, our AI doctor, 24/7/365. Cody opens with "Hey — I'm Cody. What's going on?" From there it's a conversation, one question at a time. For travel cancellation, Cody asks the specifics of the trip — booked travel dates, destination, type of trip (work, family, leisure), and the medical reason — plus your current symptoms, when they started, and what an honest assessment of safe-to-travel-again looks like. For jury duty, Cody asks the summons date, your jurisdiction (county, state, or federal), your medical condition, how it impacts an 8-hour court day, and your requested defer-to date. Either way, Cody summarizes the case for the reviewing doctor.

2. A US-licensed doctor reviews and writes the letter within 1 hour. A named, board-certified physician reads your case and writes back in the same chat thread. The letter arrives as a PDF in your inbox — clean, signed, with the doctor's name, credentials, state license number, and clinic contact information on it. The doctor's name and signature are written specifically for the audience (airline, travel insurer, or court clerk).

3. Submit where it needs to go. Most airlines and travel insurers accept PDF uploads through their claims portal or by email. Most courts accept faxed, mailed, or uploaded deferral letters; the summons will name the exact submission method.

The visit is $49 flat. No insurance required. HSA and FSA eligible under IRS Publication 969.

Plus 14 Days of Unlimited Follow-Up

Your $49 includes 14 days of unlimited messaging with Cody and the care team. If the airline comes back asking for a different format, if the travel insurer wants additional detail, if the court clerk needs the dates adjusted — you reply in the same chat thread. The doctor can issue an updated letter if your situation genuinely warrants it. That window covers exactly the back-and-forth that often happens between patients and these institutions during a claim or deferral review.

For the broader walkthrough of how online doctor visits work, see our online doctor's note guide. For the cost comparison against in-person paths, see our doctor's note cost post.

The Honest Limits

Here's the part most "note services" don't tell you, and that protects you when you actually need the letter to work.

For travel: A CodyMD doctor can write a cancellation letter for travel that didn't happen because of the medical condition the doctor is assessing today. We cannot write a letter saying you were too sick to travel three weeks ago if you actually went on the trip. We cannot write a letter for someone else's illness. We cannot write a letter that says you had a medical reason if the doctor's assessment doesn't support that reason. The reason this matters: travel insurance claims are reviewed, and a letter that doesn't match the underlying facts can trigger a denied claim and, in some cases, a fraud flag against the policyholder.

For jury duty: A CodyMD doctor can write a deferral letter for a court date that hasn't happened yet, supported by a current medical assessment. We cannot write a letter for jury duty that's already been missed. If you've already failed to appear, that's an issue to take up directly with the court clerk, not something an after-the-fact letter can fix. Court systems take failure-to-appear seriously, and a letter dated after the missed service would make the situation worse, not better.

This is the honest version. The reason a CodyMD letter works is that the visit was real, the assessment was real, and the letter says exactly what the assessment supports. That's what makes the document hold up under review. More on the doctors who actually sign these letters in our licensed doctor's note post.

When CodyMD Is the Right Fit — and When It Isn't

Good fit:

• Acute illness preventing imminent travel (today, tomorrow, this week)

• Acute illness or known chronic condition flare-up preventing imminent jury service

• Documentation for travel insurance claims tied to an acute medical event

Not the right fit:

• Letters for travel that already happened

• Letters for jury duty already missed

• Cases requiring specialty workup (a cardiology clearance for someone with a recent cardiac event, for example) — those need the specialist

• Complex, ongoing accommodation cases that require a longitudinal provider relationship

If your case isn't right for an online visit, the CodyMD doctor will route you to the appropriate path.

Cancellation Processed, Deferral Granted

You finish the chat at 9:14 AM in the airport food court. By 10:30, the letter is in your inbox. You upload it to the airline's claim portal and to your travel insurer. You book a hotel near the airport, you rest, you reschedule the flight. Or — for the jury duty version — Sunday evening you chat in, Monday morning the letter is in your inbox, you fax it to the court clerk with your summons number, the deferral is granted, you reschedule for a month from now. Cancellation processed, deferral granted, life continues. That's the trade — $49 for the visit, 1 hour for the document, and a letter that holds up because the visit was real.