Outside of FT, I honestly don't know many "nationals" who buy airplane tickets through direct sales channels.

On the subject of notoriously bad customer service, what is Trip.com English like when it comes to “self transfer” itineraries? I haven’t seen any in my searches but I’m asking in advance as I am searching some Air Asia routes and sometimes they even for their own customers to book on separate PNRs and refuse to connect their sectors.

I was only looking previously at direct flights. Adding transits complicates matters. When things go wrong what is Trip.com like or do I just utilise travel insurance and make a claim for it?

I personally wouldn't be using trip.com for any low cost carrier bookings, like AirAsia and others. But for legacy carriers it's different.

I don't think trip.com adds any value for LCCs, there is little or no customer service via either route other than online, and you run the risk of some of the unbundled add-ons not being offered during the booking process. And you then might not native have access to booking direct with the airline to adjust the booking before you depart.

As for self-transfers you seem to be aware of the risks, so doing your own insurance so you fully understand if those risks are covered is probably the sensible way to go.

Regarding the few posts above:

1) Sometimes trip.com does not list parther FFP in the drop-down list, in which case its possible to ask them to do input it manually.
2) Its very important to set the region correctly in trip.com, the fares can differ significantly depending on the region and there may be some local offers.
3) Never had a problem with their English, although on my last enquiry, it was answered by a Korean agent with auto translate. Was not a problem
4) Generally agree regarding the LCC, in my case I often book very last minute and certain that there will be no changes/extra purchases to be made and trip.com lets you pay with local currencies without any markups, which is convenient.

Efficient direct distribution is pretty much an operational prerequisite for LCCs. As such, I'm usually happy to use their sites/apps.

This is not the case with legacy Asian airlines. Agent commissions are simply a cost of doing business. And, there's no point investing big resources in websites that nobody uses.