FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - What is the benefit of booking directly with United? vs OTA?
Old Dec 8, 2019, 2:26 pm
  #13  
paperwastage
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 3,345
3+ reasons for buying via OTA
1) they may extend 24hour cancellation (or even 24+hour/or over weekend) for flights that may not qualify under DOT airline rule
2) eg orbitz 2% reward for booking flights, plus any cashback sites on top of it
3) want to book a ticket that UA.com wont quote
~4) possibility of getting BULK ticket and BULK earnings, very YMMV

2+ reasons for not buying OTA
1) may have to change/cancel - OTAs may charge a fee on top of UA fee
2) any issue with ticket (eg schedule change, or causing misconnect), you may have to jump through hoops and OTA/airline will point ticket at each other
~3) OTA may issue BULK fares which you dont want. YMMV

if im travelling for leisure on a supercheap fare, i would go OTA to get the extra %
paperwastage is offline