Online Travel Booking and Bidding Agencies - book direct with airline vs. 3rd party and any impact on IRROPs?

I usually book direct from the airline for leisure travel including MR and have been treated relatively well when there is schedule change or IRROPs, perhaps due to elite status. I am wondering if there are any negatives or difficulties if flights are booked from a third party sites (travelocity, expedia etc). I'm most interested in hearing your experience with UA flights booked from 3rd party sites (travelocity for example, as I'd like to take advantage of earning additional UR points via UR mall).

I booked a trip on CO back in January via Orbitz and had a preemptive weather related cancellation the night before my trip commenced. I called CO directly and they issued a refund without directing me back to Orbit. I was kind of shocked. I'm not sure what they would have said about a reroute. I still say its not worth the risk.

IME, there is absolutely NO DIFFERENCE.

Delta charges I believe a $50 fee on top of the usual change fees for those kind of tickets if you make changes.

Delta charges I believe a $50 fee on top of the usual change fees for those kind of tickets if you make changes.

That’s only for voluntary changes. They don’t charge anything for IRROPS changes. There is no difference in how you ar4 treated in IRROPS the contract of carriage is the same. The only time you will be treated differently is if you want to voluntarily change a flight before departure of the first flight.

In irrops, you will probably see no difference. One area may be in the notification area, I know I've had Orbitz tickets and gotten alerts from them about irrops before the airline knew about them. I walked up to the gate agent once to get a boarding pass because a flight was canceled according to the text from Orbitz and the agent had not been told that yet, it took another five or ten minutes for their system to reflect it.

Thanks, so its fair to conclude no impact on IRROPs if the trip has already started or on the day of travel. Any input on SDC (same day change +/- 24 hrs), or when need to rebook due to involuntary schedule change (before the start of the trip)?

Thanks, so its fair to conclude no impact on IRROPs if the trip has already started or on the day of travel. Any input on SDC (same day change +/- 24 hrs), or when need to rebook due to involuntary schedule change (before the start of the trip)?

Right, no impact on IRROPS.

I have limited experience with SDC, but the one time I did it with an agency ticket there was no problem.

If you mean an involuntary schedule change initiated by the airline, then there is no impact. They will treat you the same as if you bought the ticket through them. If you mean a schedule change initiated by you, then you usually have to make the change through the agent, which will likely mean a very long wait on the phone and an agency charge in addition to the any airline imposed change fees. I very seldom have to change tickets, but recently I was able to get AA to change an Orbitz issued ticket for me. I think I just got lucky.