Originally Posted by
BeantownFlyer
I avoid travel agents at all costs, but I do not think this is accurate. The agency issues the ticket on behalf of the airline and the charge should appear on your credit card statement with the airline name, not the travel agency. The airline can see the form of payment.
With Chase, this is not in fact the case. When I book flights with them, the charge shows up on my statement as "CL *Chase Travel TRIPCHRG.COM VA." That's the same merchant name that appears for hotel bookings.
This is different from what I've seen with other OTAs - namely, Expedia and Amex Travel (the only other two agencies with which I have any recent experience.) For those OTAs, the flights always show up with the airline listed as the merchant, with details of the flight segments (or at least the first two) broken out with airport codes (e.g., XXX YYY).
I'm not sure why this is different for Chase Travel, but it hasn't made an appreciable difference in my flying experience.