Yeah - appreciate it's a risk - and wouldn't recommend it to family/friends - but its served me well (so far). With Qantas/Virgin I rely more on my status than having booked direct for them to look after me. Internationally - I'm happy to take the risk I guessFrom my experience, airlines are much more likely to take care of you if something goes wrong than the European flight-booking websites that are often listed on Skyscanner.
