How exactly would that have helped? If he bought the ticket from Continental directly, are you saying the problem wouldn't have existed? Continental were a 3rd party selling agent, selling a United numbered flight on a US Airways operated flight.
It is also bad advice if you have connections with different airlines. For example, if you are travelling say from Little Rock to London and have to change somewhere, best use an agent. If you buy direct, you will have to buy a ticket for the international portion of the flight from a US carrier. US based carriers are almost NEVER better than the international competition. There are dozens of airlines flying from the US to London, and I would choose almost all foreign airlines over US airlines for that route, with the possible exception of Air India, who are also appalling. If you buy from an agent, you can interlink with Virgin for example and if something goes wrong the agent will assist you. (In theory).
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