It's been this way for a long time. It's often cheaper to book directly from the airline than through an aggregator so it always pay to check (and use a tool li

It's been this way for a long time. It's often cheaper to book directly from the airline than through an aggregator so it always pay to check (and use a tool like http://matrix.itasoftware.com http://matrix.itasoftware.com to also look for fare prices) It makes sense, it's not in the airlines or hotels best interest to give lower prices to external OTAs and by providing better fares on their website they cut the middleman. It's also the reason why hotel chain tend to not reward user with status and points if they book through an aggregator.