I do hear that booking with OTAs can quickly go sour in the case of any IRROPS (which is why I never use them), but doesn’t the negative publicity usually stay with the OTA in this case?

Considering that many like buying “cheap” OTA tickets I don’t really understand why it was this important for AY to cut ties with TAs, although I generally do favor to cut out the middle man.

However, I don’t really see how this changes the competition that much – the TAs were hardly providing any real competition as they all sell the same seat. Competition is good – but in commercial aviation this should primarily mean competing carriers.