Is it better to book airfare through the airlines website directly or via 3rd party like?

I know on orbitz, they will monitor the fares for you automatically and issue a refund if a better fare hits.

Are there there any other booking sites that offer benefits? Are there other benefits that I am overlooking to booking directly with the airline?

Do you book airfare alone, or might you book hotel or car rental simultaneously?

i always stick to booking with the airline directly....my reason for this is if i need to cancel or miss a flight or change my itinerary then it is much easier dealing with the airline directly as compared to a 3rd party....

agreed and i'll add that if there are any sort of irrops or other "issues" with the ticket, you don't want to hear something from the airline like "you bought this ticket thru xxx so there's nothing/not much we can do about it"

I'm usually only booking airfare. Do the airline's sites have a "lowest price guaranty?"

After a recent experience I have made a decision. There is never a need to pay for a ticket via AA site, and possibly others. Orbitz has a great feature where they will refund the price difference if your ticket price is lowered.

I recently paid for a few tickets on AA for $309 each. Could have gotten the same tickets on Orbitz. A month later, AA runs a sale and the tickets are now $199. I called AA and they said they don't have a price match feature. They can rebook the flight, but the $100 rebooking fee applies. If I would have purchased through Orbitz, I would have recieved a $110 refund per ticket.

Is my reasoning sound that you should never purchase tickets via the airlines site?

I know UA does and they will give you UA travel certs if you find a lower price elsewhere. Not sure about others. You could probably Google it.

You need to read the exact terms and conditions of the Orbitz guarantee more closely. It is not enough that the price drops - it must not only drop, but another person must book THE EXACT SAME FLIGHT ON ORBITZ and only then do you get the refund. If the price drops, but nobody books the cheaper tickets on Orbitz for your exact flights and dates, then you get nothing!

So, considering there are only X number of seats on your plane, and if you're taking a connecting flight there are so many possible places for the people on your plane to connect to, the odds that someone on your plane even has your exact itinerary is fairly small. Then, add to it the odds of them specifically using Orbitz (not the airline directly, or their corporate travel agent, or any other travel site, or a local travel agent, or their cruise line, or...), AND booking after you while the fare was cheaper. In short, very long odds.

The only time I've ever had an opportunity to use this feature is one time when I booked a ticket going somewhere and later a friend decided she wanted to come also. By the time she decided this, the price had gone down on my flights, so I did get the money back because I booked her on the exact same flights I was taking. And yes, Orbitz did pay up automatically, about a month after the flight.

I agree, it's nice not to give anyone the opportunity to pass the buck. On the other hand you have to consider what level of customer service you're likely to get from the airline itself. With Orbitz, you know any issues will be handled in a crappy outsourced call center. Some airlines, if you have no status, don't offer you anything better. On the other hand, some (like CO and AA) handle all of their calls right here in the US and you may have better service from them than you'd get from Orbitz/Travelocity/Expedia.

All in all, the Orbitz low fare guarantee is pretty much a gimmick that's unlikely to be of much real value. On the other hand, Orbitz does allow you to cancel many tickets until 10 PM the next night, which is a handy feature that I have used on occasion. Many airlines also give you some short penalty-free cancellation period, though, so again it's not clear that Orbitz offers much more than what you get booking directly.

In sum I occasionally use Orbitz/Expedia/Travelocity but 90% of my bookings are done directly with the airline as the benefits are pretty much a wash. The main time I use Orbitz/Expedia/Travelocity is if there is a fare that the airline's site can't deliver and they can.

crhptic is right....another person has to buy the same ticket from orbitz in order for you to be eligible for the refund....i believe priceline also does the same thing....