Let me add my 2 cents; - I know many of these big agencies charge for every call etc, all the airlines charged a phone fee when booking over the phone, I know they dropped it as they are trying to figure out if that will bring them back business. In Europe, there is no such thing as a toll-free number, and all the airlines have premium numbers where you pay like for every second you sneeze, which ensures you don’t call them.
Yes, Expedia and the airline provides service, but here are some examples of the difference between an agent; (many times especially at the airport the airline would be better able to assist, but in advance an agent can be better).
1 - I had a client in Europe during one of the many LH strikes. He knew that I was out of the country so he didn’t call me (I told him afterwards that he should have called me…) and he called LH and they rebooked him on LOT. But when he got to the airport 12 hours later his ticket wasn’t reissued, and LOT made him pay for a new ticket. Basically, the agent over the phone in many cases doesn’t have the authority to issue/reissue and just makes the booking and queues it to a ticketing agent, something that I would have done in 5 minutes. He later complained to LH, and they gave him a 20% voucher with all its restrictions wasn’t worth the paper it was printed. I was able then to get a refund for the amount he had to pay then with some extra.
2 - Had a client who needed a change on a jetBlue ticket during a weather waiver, and it was completely sold out. I was able to keep an eye, and after an hour or so I was able grab a seat. Now will an OTA/Airline do that? What would have happened that person would have checked online let’s say, putting in all info on the website, do the query, and get back zero results, and I don’t think he would have tried to search again if the query take more than 30 seconds and error’s out if there is a network overload etc. He would have maybe called the airline, waited an hour or so they should answer the phone, and would have told him “we see no space” and bye, he would have called again to see if anything changed?
3 - Had a client that arrived in VIE and his onwards flight was canceled. This case the airline has great powers to change carriers, but he didn’t get anything from them (Only option was TK with a 5 hour stop Friday morning). He then called me, and after an hour I was able to book him and a later non-stop flight, and I then had the airline reissue it. Not stopping there, I was up all night to have him switched to a better flight, and made sure the ticket was reissued etc, would an OTA or even the airline do that?
4 - Countless times with a Bassinet it involves more than just the request for one, you have to follow up and make sure you get it confirmed. Not sure any OTA will do that.
By the LY strike I have moved people to UA, and only because when the flight was canceled, I first grabbed some seats on UA, and then had LY reissue it. By the time I got LY on the phone the space was long gone, and only because I had it there it got done. Not sure if an OTA would have done that either.