Originally Posted by
moondog
Yes, but OTAs are often godsends as well. Personally, I swear by Ctrip when booking anything from or within China because they use their leverage over airlines on behalf of customers when needed.
I think the issue really is that most airlines, but especially DL are much more accommodating than TA. TA has to go by the airline rule book. The airline itself doesnt. Take my last trip in "Good Recovery", if I had booked via TA, TA would've never rerouted me via AMS to SIN. DL threw out the rulebook and did it with no issues. Now if it had been MU, I'm betting just getting rerouted on same routing would be more difficult through MU than a TA. Most airlines dont have Chinese level CS.