Originally Posted by YuropFlyer

I see. My personal experience with flight delays and cancellations (mostly outside China, though) is quite the opposite - if booked via the airline, more flexibility, if booked via a travel agency alwaysget told "the airline refuses to put you on another airline" and a lengthy discussion occurred. But I guess in the end it's different on each personal preference. I've had one case (booked via Ctrip) when Air China cancelled an evening flight, the earlier afternoon flight was really awkward to take, and Ctrip refused any cooperation to put me on the Eastern flight at a similar evening schedule. As the Eastern flight at that time was MUCH more expensive, and the Air China afternoon one cheaper than the original one booked in the evening, I had them to fully refund me, and rebooked the afternoon one. Guess it's really down to each situation what would have been best (or not) - well at least I could invest the saved 300 RMB or so into liquid funds