Providing you are not looking to make any changes, it can work out cheaper. I have nearly always used 3rd party agencies for flights through skyscanner. I had two bookings cancelled, one before the pandemic as the airline changed the first flight arriving after the connecting flight(!) which was refunded quite quickly as a result, and an Emirates flight that was cancelled due to the pandemic, that took a bit longer to get refunded, as the airlines were messing about with slow refunds. Even booking with airlines directly you are not safe. Many people who had flights cancelled with Thai Airways never got a refund after they declared bankruptcy, and are still trying to get refunds from them.

@Paul ******

But some hotels do not have their own booking systems, and only use 3rd party sites like Agoda to book their hotel online.