While reading the terms of a rewards program for a credit card I recently acquired, I read that it only counts as travel spending purchases made directly with the service provider, and not third party booking services. It seems to me the reason I make bookings with a third party is that at the time of my expenditure those websites had significantly better prices. I have some modicum of a notion about how the service side of this equation works, and why third parties offer services at a lower rate than the provider themselves, but it got me thinking about bookings people make directly with the service provider. I don't know remember the last time I made an airline booking directly with the airline on which I flew. Maybe Spirit? And I hate Spirit. Why do some people make their bookings directly with airlines and hotels? Aren't they paying more for the same service?
In conclusion, Stackers who have the privilege to travel and experience other parts of the planet, how do you make your bookings and why?
P.S. I still do most of my spending in the FIAT debt promises of credit cards, but I also invite discussion about how you choose to pay, though I expect and respect many people wouldn't want to talk about that particular aspect of their behaviors.
Interesting topic, my two cents:
In my experience, the credit card services you talk about are actually quite useful, a concierge will find you an excellent price, the trick, do not use their web site, call them, the rewards will apply the same, but the concierge will get a similar deal than the one you may find in services like google flights1 or Skyscanner2 or Hopper3. Just be aware, the call to a concierge and their service will have a cost, check with the credit card,depending on the card you have could be waived, it is not much, last time I checked it was around $35.
Find the best fare you can, write the details down and call the concierge, tell him you want him/her to improve it or match the offer, they may surprise you, in my experience, at least 3 out of 4 times they will at least match it or will be so close that is worth it.
WARNING You may find some shady offers in skyscanner and hooper, use the filters to remove the low cost airlines and select direct flights if applies

Footnotes

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One time I heard on the news (lol) about 10 years ago that searching/booking flights on Tuesdays @ 3pm EST was the most probable day & time you'd get the best deal. Tried it several times thereafter, and seemed to be pretty good/accurate guidance. But again that was 10 years ago.
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I've heard things like that too. I'll be keeping my eyes open to see if I notice that as the case.
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I use Google flights to find the best price and then I go to the website or airline directly.
I have credit cards of American airlines and Delta so that I get a free carry-on which saves about $60 or more per trip.
Sometimes American and Delta are not offering competitive prices for the flight that I'm looking at so I'll go with that airline and book directly with them.
Typically I'll set up that rental car through Expedia though.
Sounds like your card isn't very good, I use the Capital One venture and I get two points for each dollar spent and I can redeem the cost of travel whether it's through Expedia or the airlines or Uber and redeem points earned on a one-to-one basis.
There's also an option to get cash back or buy stuff on Amazon but you lose about 30% of the points.
I could probably hook you up with a referral link lol.
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I don't plan to buy the tickets soon, as i have almost a year until I plan to travel. I would likely apply for an American card to make the purchase of my flight.
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You may want to check to make sure that they don't charge international transaction fees.
But I like flying with American. Using other budget airlines will make you appreciate them lol.
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For flights I prefer booking directly from airBaltic or using cheapair.com, as they both accept Bitcoin payments. But still book also directly from Ryanair and Wizzair sometimes too, as often it's few times cheaper.
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[With any site] Find who has the most direct method of travel. Book directly through end-provider site
[With preferred hotel network] Find which hotels are in network and near where I need to be. Book directly through end-provider site.
Service directly though the end provider has been much better overall (IMO) when there is a problem. I don't use AirBnB or similar as the last thing I want is shitty human reps I've had to deal with in the past. In rewards-network bookings tend to drop 10% or so vs list prices, with some fees waved so prices haven't been a decided factor to use a 3rd party.
Won't do Spirit/low cost flying unless it's an overnight thing though and only need a backpack.
^ for when I get to decide. If it's paid for as part of a contract I'm slightly more flexible. Business travel has had more flexibility on cost so can also swing some extra benefits like traveling by train instead of flying.
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On a related topic, WHEN do you book airlines and hotels? If you know when you're traveling well ahead of time, do you make your bookings immediately? do you watch the price and try to get a dip?
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Booking using fiat but getting sats back through satsback.com 😃
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I try to read at least some of the fine print on all my credit cards, and I definitely got off on a tangent when I read that line about third party bookings disqualifying my maximum cash-back reward on travel bookings.
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I can confirm that insurance is a scam.
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