Originally Posted by
D582
AC will touch TA/GDS bookings within 48 hours of departure, but before then they usually will not.
From the business side, you are a customer of the travel agency, not AC/other airline directly.
Not so. The TA is the agent of the airlines. You are a customer of the airline and the agent is merely acting on their behalf.
The TA is responsible for servicing the itinerary, collecting payment from you, and settling that payment with the airline.
As far as the agent's relationship with the airline is concerned, this is correct. But not so in terms of the legal relationship with the customer. In other words, the issues are all about internal cooking between the airline and the agent acting on the airline's behalf.