@disdreamin wrote:
On a more general note, I never book air travel through a third party site like expedia or travelocity. I want to be able to make changes directly with the airline, if necessary, and I want to be notified of changes directly from the airline. I also don't want to have to go through a middle-man if there are issues when traveling.
In regard to the middle man, I suspect it's a bit different between them.. been a lifetime since I used expedia or priceline.
I can't offer many specifics on ticket changes, but one I did was adding a loyalty # to a companion's ticket for them via amex travel. The process seemed to required direct with Delta as there was a malformation of the proper name entry (companion has 5 parts to their name) when I added them to my amex travel profile.
The Skymiles # didn't match the name after booking at Delta. I first thought.. I have to do this with Delta and they required a bit of online hoop jumping so was going to head to the local airport and do it in person. In the mean time, I adjusted the name on amex travel and saved it. A few days later when looking at the delta site "MY TRIPS" receipt looks in order now but there may still be kinks yet to work out. My companion has had problems with all airlines since there is inconsistent format among state DL, passport, bank and credit cards, etc. and has always had to wait before boarding. I suspect any further correction(s) needed will be direct with Delta.
Anyhow, it doesn't seem to be all 3rd pary or airline direct -- the situation/issue may dictate which organization is best to use. I imagine to cancel a flight, amex would refund the money more quickly. If I wanted to change a flight I'd deal with Delta for an eTicket.
