I guess this is a trip report of sorts - or just an opportunity to let go of annoyance. I am not a fan of China Southern. The staff on the plane and at the airport are great - no complaints there. But trying to manage the reservation ahead of time has been a major stressor. Both coming (and now getting ready to go home) we received emails that said the seats we'd chosen or been assigned were no longer available, but we couldn't sign into their website because the reservation had been made through expedia, and when you call the phone numbers listed on the site no one answers. Finally I wrote an email and did get a response, but it caused a good deal of anxiety (no one wants their seats messed up on a 21 hour flight!). Anyway, thanks for letting me complain....

Laura - did you find that booking through Expedia offered you a significantly lower fare than on the CS website?

It hadn't occurred to me to check CSA website when booking - we compared multiple airlines on expedia and got a good price plus a r3easonable itinerary. I pretty much book all my flights through expedia

Interesting - as we booked directly with China Southern - after looking at third party agents like Expedia. The price on the website was slightly lower than going through a third party. I always look at the third party websites to see what's out there, but I never book through them, because the fares are almost always the same or slightly lower on the carriers' websites. Occasionally there will be a better fare on a site like cheapoair, but I haven't found that to be the case on more mainstream sites like Expedia or Travelocity. Also - they don't show every airline (for example Southwest is never on a third party website).

Glad you were able to get your seats reinstated, and your whole trip sounded amazing!

thanks so much scdreamer - I know to book direct with southwest, but good point about always double checking the prices with the airlines themselves. I find the whole process of booking airline flights incredible stressful -anyway, tomorrow we are off - home agaiin, home again, jiggity jig

I believe Southwest only sells direct, unless they have recently started working with on-line agencies. But as others say, booking direct with any airline is best, in price and service. That includes seat assignments. But airlines may not be able to give you seat assignments on a connecting flight despite selling a combined ticket. Cheapoair, according to Wikipedia, stands somewhere between Number Two and Number Five in on-line agencies by volume. Not marginal, despite the cringe-worthy name. I am a fan, when booking itineraries with several flights, and for flight info. But based on experience, I would not try to get seat assignments from any on-line agency. Go to the airlines for that.

Yes, I agree that booking directly with the airline is usually the best way to buy tickets. Aside from better or equally priced fares, if there are problems along the way, it is much better to be able to deal directly with the airline than with a third party. Especially in the case of connecting flights/foreign travel - I do not want to be dealing with someone sitting at a switchboard somewhere out in the interwebs when I've missed my connection and my luggage has not. The service counter with a live person, where the problem can be explained face-to-face - and a supervisor requested if need be - is my choice.

That said, I have booked to Europe with no problem with cheapoair - but only for direct - not connecting flights. The price was so significantly lower, I went for it.