Originally Posted by
jiejie
I concur with this. With one addition: if flying on a discounted ticket that can't be endorsed to another airline, I usually like to go with a carrier that has at least one later flight covering that route, so in case of flight cancellation, MX, etc, I can still have a chance at getting out same day.
Check the top of this thread on page 1 for the Intercity Domestic Air master post--there are links to other viable booking agents in addition to ctrip and travelzen.
Pretty much all tickets can be endorsed if the airline screws up badly enough, but I partly agree with you. Basically, the endorsement process sucks up valuable time (it is often necessary to go to the ticket counter to pull it off, though increasingly less so, if you book with a big company like ctrip).
One more factor I just thought of is the remote stand issue. Bus gates are okay on arrival, but can be downright miserable on departure because they: 1) tend to resemble bus stations; and 2) once you're inside a plane that is a mile away from the terminal, the airline has (almost) all the cards. Unfortunately, it is difficult to predict with certainty which flights get allocated to remote stands unless you commute on the same route week in and week out.