Both the company and the agent have the same organization, namely IATA-International Air Transport Association. Every country has its own air transport association, and China is CATA-China Air Transport Association. Agents who join IATA are recognized by IATA and airlines, have the most formal ticket-selling qualification, and can issue tickets by themselves with their own IATA numbers. But it is very difficult to obtain IATA certification. In addition to the relevant operational qualifications and personnel, a huge amount of funds (more than one million) is needed as the ticket guarantee.
IATA official website cannot directly check the IATA number. You can call the Beijing Office of the International Air Transport Association (010-8571nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine). Compared with IATA, CATA's CAAC qualification certificate is easier to apply for. This can be directly inquired in official website of CAAC. For example, the CATA primary agent qualification number ZN20624 of the company affiliated to Aifei.com can be searched directly in official website.
So before you buy a ticket, you might as well ask the company if it has IATA number. If you don't ask if it has a CATA number, you can basically know whether this company has the most formal qualifications by checking whether this number is consistent with the business license information of this company. If there is nothing, you can judge for yourself whether it is worth the risk. After all, the airline ticket agency industry can't say that there is no ticket, but it will be safer to have these qualifications.